Teaching Western American Literature

"Harrison (Univ. of Montana) and Tanglen (Austin College) have gathered an impressive selection of essays on teaching western American literature. They focus primarily on pedagogy, ranging from general education classes to writing classes at multiple levels. The exploration of the pedagogical practices can be extended to various courses in a variety of disciplines. The contextual subject matter is as enlightening as the pedagogical. The 13 essays are arranged in four categories: 'Teaching the Literary Wests'; 'Affect, Indigeneity, Gender'; 'Place and Regionality'; and 'Hemispheric/Global Wests.' The investigations are intersectional and include issues relevant to African American studies, American studies, border studies, critical race theory, cultural studies, disability studies, ecocriticism, gender studies, global studies, and, perhaps most important, human rights. The collection is timely in that it uncovers and discovers an American past that has been elided by the popular narratives of Hollywood and television. These narratives form the West in the American imagination as a trope of expansion and accumulation rooted in property and propriety, and manifest in the individual. The 'American West' in this collection is multivalent, with narrative borders beyond imagined walls."—R. T. Prus, Choice

“A rich volume. . . . It provides teachers with valuable insight into how classroom teaching is informed by and sometimes advances scholarly conversations about western literature specifically and literary studies more generally, while also providing excellent practical strategies that readers can use to enhance student learning and engagement in their own classrooms.”—Jennifer S. Tuttle, coeditor of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: New Texts, New Contexts

“Teaching Western American Literature will appeal to anyone involved in teaching western American literature at the post-secondary level, from the graduate student teaching a course for the first time to the seasoned instructor curious about how their teaching practice fits into the broader landscape or just looking for fresh ideas.”—Victoria Lamont, author of Westerns: A Women’s History