William Nester's library of titles is heavy on history and the people who lived it. THE EPIC HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WEST is no exception. His well-researched and skillful story telling left this history buff with many more questions. The book seemed rushed in areas as Nester condenses this fast-changing era into 320 pages. Many critical events occurred as the American West was being built, from the displacement of Native Americans to the gold rush; I wanted more detail. The writing is powerful, drawing readers into the events as they unfolded, presenting both sides of the story. I enjoyed the book and would happily read another book set during the same era.

I imagine it’s tricky to write a comprehensive history of the American West in 300-ish pages. It’s evident this book was thoroughly researched but yet despite the reams of facts and statistics, it felt surface-level, as if it was trying to do too much. It touched on a lot of subjects, but rarely went deep.

There’s no narrative or storyline to this book, just a rehashing of ordered facts, and I really had to discipline myself to finish it. This is a fascinating topic and I felt it was a real missed opportunity not making it more engaging and accessible. The writing was very dry and academic, with stilted, awkward phrasing and, at times, a wobbly focus. There’s a heavy focus on war and politics, where this reader was hoping for something more immersive about every day life as the west changed. I appreciated the crystal clarity of human activity being directly responsible for climate breakdown and ecosystem destruction in the west. But I bristled at insensitive word choices and colonialist language, particularly about Indigenous people or Black enslaved, for a book published in 2025.

I’m disappointed this didn’t work for me, but ultimately I felt like I was reading an outdated research paper rather than an ‘epic history of the American west’.