Owyhee County is the largest and least inhabited area in the lower 48 states. Who has decided how to use it? From mine wars in the mid-nineteenth century to environmental conservation disputes at the end of the twentieth, people in the West have battled over the role of government and notions of American identity to answer this question. This title demonstrates how the "Old West” speaks to the "New” and proves how the power of western mythology moved from background to central character.
John Bieter is an associate professor of history and co-director of the Center for Basque Studies at Boise State University. He is the author of An Enduring Legacy: A History of the Basques in Idaho.