American writers, thinkers, and activists have often turned to wilderness as a way to clarify their discomfort with capitalism and democracy in America, finding solutions to the cultural problems they've perceived in the seeming objectivity of wilderness. But their images of wilderness are just as influenced by culture, politics, and the economy as the civilization they seek to critique. This thesis engages with wilderness writers from three different eras in order to illuminate how the concept of wilderness has been articulated and re-articulated throughout American history in service to various political and cultural aims. The first chapter delves into the early settling of the wilderness and the works that hunter-hero Daniel Boone inspired, using texts from John Filson, James Fenimore Cooper, and Henry David Thoreau. The second chapter analyzes the figure of the cowboy and the works of John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Owen Wister who wrote during the beginnings of the American conservation movement. The final chapter explores the works of Edward Abbey, famous for his depiction of eco-saboteurs and his reconfiguring of the conventions of his predecessors for a new generation. An analysis of these texts demonstrates that wilderness, far from being natural, is one of America's most carefully constructed myths.
"},{"label":"Degree","value":["Bachelor of Arts with Departmental Honors"]},{"label":"Author-supplied Keywords","value":["Wilderness","American conservation movement","Western"]},{"label":"Administrative Note","value":"Drupal Node ID: 24017