The Unromantic West: Labor, Capital, and Struggle

A gang of historians has gunned down the "romantic West." They have dismissed the notion of the West as a frontier of opportunity for all comers. The American West has been redefined as an arena of struggle involving complex relations of class, gender, ethnicity, and race. Western work cam...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Historical archaeology 2002-01, Vol.36 (3), p.44-58
Main Authors: McGuire, Randall H., Reckner, Paul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Archaeology
Capital
Capitalism
Coal
Coal mining
Colorado
Cowboys
Historical archaeology
International political economy
Labour
Massacres
Mining
Tents
U.S.A
United States history
World economy
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Summary:A gang of historians has gunned down the "romantic West." They have dismissed the notion of the West as a frontier of opportunity for all comers. The American West has been redefined as an arena of struggle involving complex relations of class, gender, ethnicity, and race. Western work camps and company towns existed as extensions of a global economy centered on the eastern United States. From the mid-19th century through the first decades of the 20th century, capital and people flowed into the West from Europe, Asia, and Mexico. In this internal periphery of U.S. capitalism, workers experienced the same type of exploitation and engaged in the same struggles as their brethren in other parts of the United States. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the coalfields of Colorado. The work camps and company towns that archaeologists excavate were loci of struggle, and historians cannot claim to understand them without considering these conflicts.
ISSN:0440-9213
2328-1103
DOI:10.1007/BF03374359