(Ebook) An Analysis of Frederick Jackson Turner's The Significance of the Frontier in American History by Joanna Dee Das, Joseph Tendler ISBN 9781912302789, 1912302780

(Ebook) An Analysis of Frederick Jackson Turner's The Significance of the Frontier in American History by Joanna Dee Das, Joseph Tendler ISBN 9781912302789, 1912302780

That is a testament to Turner's powers of creative synthesis; in a few short pages, he succeeded in redefining the way in which whole generations of Americans understood the manner in which their country was shaped, and their own character moulded, by the frontier experience. It is largely thanks to Turner's influence that the idea of America as the home of a sturdily independent people – one prepared, ultimately, to obtain justice for themselves if they could not find it elsewhere – was born. The impact of these ideas can still be felt today: in many Americans' suspicion of "big government," in their attachment to guns – even in Star Trek's vision of space as "the final frontier." Turner's thesis may now be criticised as limited (in its exclusion of women) and over-stated (in its focus on the western frontier). That it redefined an issue in a highly impactful way – and that it did so exceptionally eloquently – cannot be doubted.