Pulitzer Prize General Non Fiction Winner
The End of the Myth
by Greg Grandin
Summary
A reinterpretation of American history through the idea of the frontier as a perpetual safety valve for the nation's social and racial tensions. Grandin tracks the myth from Andrew Jackson's Indian removals through Cold War interventionism to the rise of border-wall politics, arguing that outward expansion long deferred internal reckoning. With the frontier closed, he contends, the country's aggressions have rebounded inward in the form of walls and resentment.
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Historical Context & Significance
Grandin argues that for 200 years, the "frontier" acted as a safety valve for American tensions; without it, the nation has turned inward on itself.