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Article: Westerns
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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WESTERNS
WESTERNS,
works of popular fiction, radio or television programs, or motion pictures that dramatize the American experience in the lands west of the Mississippi River, particularly during the years of heaviest settlement, 1860
–
1890. Westerns have been a staple of American popular culture for more than 150 years, providing a rich body of myth, legend, and iconography that has evolved over time to influence and reflect American ideals and struggles.
Frontier fiction had been popular since James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking novels (1823
–
1841), and as Americans explored and settled westward after 1850, tales of daring adventure and the triumph of rugged ...