This book is a crash course in the history of the American west. As expected when considering the scope of the subject matter and the size of this book, you don’t get a ton of in-depth information here. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really much of what I read that was new to me, however, that’s probably more about me than it is this book. I think this would be a good read for someone who would like an introduction to American history, and a little bit of everything. It fits a specific reader, for a specific purpose just fine.
Thank you to NetGalley and Pen & Sword publishing for an advanced copy.

The author undertakes a challenge task: compiling the immense history of the American West into a book. It's one that requires selecting which stories to include and which to exclude. It also requires condensing and summarizes important episodes in history.

I think that is where I became stuck as I read this book. The Indigenous nations who flourished in the west prior to colonization are summarized in one chapter. Some aspects of culture were summarized and applied in general, which others were divided into dichotomies that didn't really work. Some words choices showed unconscious bias and/or misunderstanding of practices. For example, what happens in some nations during sacred ceremonies isn't self-torture. It's a practice of someone choosing to sacrifice something (e.g. their blood, etc.) to help protect the nation, family, and more. I'm pretty certain the author didn't talk to the nations who practice those ceremonies.

Given the first chapter and the inaccuracies in it, I struggled to read on. It did get better. And I sympathize with the author. It's pretty much an impossible task to cover the history of the American West in just one book.

I grew up in Montana, and I love history. Maybe my expectations were too high for this type of book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC! All opinions are my own.

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’.