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Schwantes reaches back to 1805, when Lewis and Clark were among the first white men to enter present day Idaho. He describes the Indians then living in the Great Basin and Plateau, and proceeds through history to show how fur traders, missionaries, and overland immigrants defined the land that became a territory in 1863 and finally a state in 1890. The vigilantism, indian wars, mining booms and busts, and animosity toward Mormons and Chinese immigrants that marked the territorial years that gave way to more troubles in the early years of statehood: an economic downturn, industrial violence, political protest. Schwantes brings his history through the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War, noting everyday life, colorful personalities, political and economic cycles, raging controversies, and current trends. For junior and senior high and adult readers.1991.
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