"The West, at bottom, is a form of society, rather than an area. It is the term applied to the region whose social conditions result from the application of older institutions and ideas to the transforming influences of free land. By this application, a new environment is suddenly entered, freedom of opportunity is opened, the cake of custom is broken, and new activities, new lines of growth, new institutions and new ideals, are brought into existence. The wilderness disappears, the "West" proper passes on to a new frontier, and in the former area, a new society has emerged from its contact with the backwoods. [...] Decade after decade, West after West, this rebirth of American society has gone on, has left its traces behind it, and has reacted on the East."
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Pulitzer Prize winnersNon-fiction authors from the United StatesHistorians from the United StatesHarvard University facultyJohns Hopkins University alumni
Original Language: English
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"The Problem of the West", in The Atlantic Monthly (September 1896). Reprinted in The Frontier in American History (New York: Henry Holt and Co, 1920) ch. 7, p. 205
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Jackson_Turner
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Frederick Jackson Turner
Frederick Jackson Turner (November 14, 1861 – March 14, 1932) was an American historian during the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison until 1910, and then Harvard University. He was known primarily for his frontier thesis. He trained many PhDs who went on to become well-known historians. He promoted interdisciplinary and quantitative methods, often with an emphasis on the Midwestern United States.
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