Nicolas S. Witschi is Associate Professor and Associate Chair, Department of English, Western Michigan University. He is the author of Traces of Gold: California's Natural Resources and the Claim to Realism in Western American Literature (2002), a Western Writers Series monograph on Alonzo "Old Block" Delano (2006), and various articles and essays on Mary Austin, John Muir, Sinclair Lewis, and Henry James.

A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American West presents a series of essays that explore the historic and contemporary cultural expressions rooted in America's western states.
* Offers a comprehensive approach to the wide range of cultural expressions originating in the west
* Focuses on the intersections, complexities, and challenges found within and between the different historical and cultural groups that define the west's various distinctive regions
* Addresses traditionally familiar icons and ideas about the west (such as cowboys, wide-open spaces, and violence) and their intersections with urbanization and other regional complexities
* Features essays written by many of the leading scholars in western American cultural studies

Acknowledgments
Note on Contributors
List of Illustrations
Part I: Introduction
Part II: Regions and Histories
Part III: Varieties and Forms
Part IV: Issues, Themes, Case Studies