the first is historian frederick jackson turner. in 1893 he published an essay called the frontier in american culture. turner was a kind of anxious man. he looked at the 18 90 census which said there was no longer a continuous line of sparsely settled land, a frontier. and that line he said have marked all of previous american history. as a frontier he argued people were stripped of their familiar conventions, forced to and -- confront the environment from the interaction emerge a particular vigorous kind of american democracy. he worried now that the frontier was technically gone, how would americans renew that democratic spirit? so he had the sense that a key moment had just passed. but let me throw out a few other figures that are circling around american culture at the same time. the first is teddy roosevelt. in 1884 he has a breakdown after the simultaneous death of his mother and his wife. he goes out to dakota territory for a west -- rest. this delete easterner have the sense that in the wilderness, he could recover a kind o

frederick jackson turner -- she spoke about the settlement and successive settlement of frontiers that shaped the american character, that made americans what they were. american birth to democracy that made america essential. have abandoned that framework so what started -- why study american history? what lessons can we learn from the 19th century western that would still matter. i think we shall do with that. in some ways the disconnect between the academic vision of what makes western history and the -- popular version. it raises a lot of interesting questions. and weart with stories have a lot to learn from telling stories. with academic history, we start with questions and problems. for which we seek answers rather than telling stories. we need to learn to be better storytellers. explain, goingo back to the cinematic image -- the way in which western as a genre had shifted and interpretations of western history had shifted from a scholarly standpoint from talking about her transition from john wayne to dances with wolves. that worked for a while. i would look at my students and r

then, in frederick jackson sterner -- turner's speech, it was the settlement of frontiers that shaped the american care, that made americans who they were, that nurtured that gave birth to, not just the referendum system but gave birth to american democracy, that made america exceptional. that historians have abandoned the framework why the study met western history, what matters, what lesson can we learn that still matter, if not the old turn arion or roosevelt he and -- roosevelt vision of what mattered. certainly we struggled with that and the disconnect between the academic vision of what makes western history matter and, we have a lot to learn from telling stories. this was brought out very nicely because with academic history we can't just start with questions and problems for which we seek answers instead of telling stories. we have to be better storytellers because there is a profound disconnect i used to try to explain that i tried to explain to my students the way that westerns as a genre had shifted and the interpretations of western history had shifted by talking about the