Into the wilderness dream : exploration narratives of the American West, 1500-1805 /

To the large and growing body of solid, scholarly material on the American West may now be added this volume of first-person narratives, each of which has been selected because of its insight into the historic role visionary dreams have played in exploration. Though the volume was collected and edited by two English professors and a librarian, it will probably find its largest audience among intellectual historians and historians of the early American West. The editors have attempted to include pieces that have literary integrity in their own right. Each of the selections, which range from anonymous legends to commentaries on the exploits of such historical giants as de Soto and Drake, is introduced by an essay providing a context for understanding it. Recommended for academic libraries and those collecting extensively in the area of the American West.-- William Emory Buchanan, Clarion Univ., Pa. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.