Literature of the Expanding Frontier

From the days of the first British settlers, determined to forge a new and better life in an unknown land, the pioneer spirit has flourished in the United States. This anthology opens with an excerpt from The Prairie from James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales. The chronicle of western expansion continues with selections by Mark Twain and Bret Harte. Excerpts from Twain's Roughing It convey the sense of wonder experienced by western travelers in the early days of the AMerican Frontier, while Harte's short story, "Tennessee's Partner" colorfully describes the rough-and-ready atmosphere of a western mining camp. A story by Paul Yee, which tells of the Chinese immigrants who helped to build this nation's railroads, is followed by two moving tales by John Steinbeck about California families.