go-getters2

Presidents ([ 3 ]) get elected here by playing on their rugged individualistic Western identity.

The "idea" of the West([ 1 ]) permeates our national identity starting around the end of the Civil War. The promise of the west is seen in a video on Nicodemus ([ 2 ]), a settlement in the West of freed slaves.

It could be argued the it was cheap energy as much as innovative spirit that drove America to be the leader in industrial production ([ 14 ]).

We are a meat eating nation ([ 6 ]) ([ 7 ]) and today's branding ([ 8 ]) dates back to the days of cattle drives([ 9 ]), roundups and mavericks ([ 10 ]).

Another siege at Wounded Knee [ 15 ]) occured in 1973.)

We'll then look at 2 stories from an Native American writer, Sherman Alexi ([ 16 ]) ([ 17 ]). as well of the story of the Great Depression as it affected sharecroppers in Oklahoma as told in Grapes of wrath ([ 18 ]).