Deep Dive | America 250
The American West
November 2025
Eager to learn more about U.S. History and the America 250 celebration? Carefully curated by local historians and academics, these modules (one for each month of the America 250 celebration) will offer a deep dive into various periods of U.S. History. These recommendations are offered as a free and optional resource with a corresponding list of books, podcast episodes, documentaries, and more that explore themes and specific timeframes within the history of our nation.
Please note: These resources are offered as an optional learning opportunity and are not a required part of any America 250 programs. All reading and viewing materials are optional and meant to enrich your personal learning experience. Some topics may be thought-provoking or sensitive, but all have been curated with care and respect. We invite you to engage with what interests you and explore at your own pace as we commemorate our nation's past.
These Deep Dives continue in the month of November with a look at the history of the American West, and will continue through the timeline of U.S. History to the present day.
Thank you for joining us!
GENERAL INTEREST BOOKS
- A Wilderness so Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America, Jon Kukla
- Empires, Nations, and Families: A New History of the North American West, 1800-1860 - Anne Hyde
- Nothing Like It In the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 - Stephen Ambrose
- New Women in the Old West: From Settlers to Suffragists, an Untold American Story - Winifred Gallagher
- Across The Wide Missouri - Bernard DeVoto
- Mormon Country - Wallace Stegner
DEEP DIVE
- The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream - H.W. Brands
- A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico - Amy S. Greenberg
- Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet - John G Turner
- Down the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell’s 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon - Edward Dolnick
- Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West - Hampton Sides
- The Fatal Environment: The Myth of the Frontier in the Age of Industrialization, 1800–1890 - Richard Slotkin
KIDS & YOUNG ADULTS
- Lewis and Clark: Explorers of the American West - Steven Kroll
- Going West - Jean Van Leeuwen
- Black Cowboy, Wild Horses- Julius Lester
- History Comics: The American Bison: The Buffalo's Survival Tale-Andy Hirsch
- Streams to the River, River to the Sea - Scott O’Dell
- The Great Brain - John D. Fitzgerald
LITERATURE & HISTORICAL FICTION
- Gloryland - Shelton Johnson
- O! Pioneers - Willa Cather
- Little House on the Prairie -Laura Ingalls Wilder
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee -Dee Brown
- Caddie Woodlawn - Carol Ryrie Brink
- Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry
- Riders of the Purple Sage - Zane Grey
- Centennial - James A. Michener
- Poems of the American West
- Great American Western Stories
- Roughing It - Mark Twain
- Beyond the Mapped Stars - Rosalyn Eves
- Sarah, Plain and Tall - Patricia MacLachlan
- The Gates of the Alamo - Stephen Harrigan
- How the West Was Won ( 1963) G
- Hell on Wheels (2011-16) TV-14
- Dances With Wolves (1990) PG-13
- Little Big Man (1970) PG-13
- Sitting Bull (2025) TV-PG
- Little House on the Prairie (1974-83)
- Lonesome Dove (1989) TV-14
- Unforgiven (1992) R
- 1883 (2021) 18+
- Ten Who Dared (1960) G
- Into the Wild Frontier (2022) TV-14
- Oklahoma (1955) G
- Ken Burns, The West, (1996) 13+
- Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery - (1997) TV-PG
- We Shall Remain (2009) TV-PG
- The Way West (2024) TV-PG
- America the Story of Us - S1E3 - Westward (2010) TV-PG
- Iconic America - S1E4 - The Cowboy (2023) TV-14
- The American Buffalo - Ken Burns - (2023) TV-14
- God’s Red Son: The Ghost Dance Religion and the Making of Modern America - Louis S Warren
- Great Basin Kingdom:An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900 - Leonard J. Arrington
- A Trial Furnace:Southern Utah's Iron Mission - Morris A. Shirts & Kathryn H. Shirts
- Finally Statehood! Utah's Struggles, 1849-1896 - Edward L. Lyman
- The Peoples of Utah - Helen Zeese Papanikolas
- Beehive Archive (Various Episodes)
- Buffalo Bill and the Mormons-Brent M. Rogers
- Intermountain Histories (Interactive Site)
- Bear River Massacre:A Shoshone History - Darren Parry