KU News Release

Professor explores fascination with Wild West in new book

LAWRENCE — The American West is the focus of a University of Kansas professor’s new book.

In “Hunger for the Wild: America’s Obsession with the Untamed West,” Michael L. Johnson, professor of English, explains how perceptions of the West have led to romanticism, nostalgia, mythology and art, and how people have brought the land to the brink of destruction through development

The book explores just what is wild about the West from times of Spanish conquistadors to the real estate developers of today.

“For years, there has been the attitude of ‘this is a great wilderness, let’s drop a grid on top of it,’ ”Johnson said of the development of cities in the West. “People have changed the scenery to match the society, not the other way around.”

These contradictions are evident in the places people live, Johnson points out, such as housing subdivisions bearing names like “Quail Creek.” Natural life and resources are eliminated in the name of “progress” and the results bear the name of the deposed.

Johnson uses poetic wordplay and personal anecdotes in exploring ideas such as “Disneyfied frontier” and “Ralphlaurenized range.” Such ideas represent presenting the history of the West as the way it should have been, rather than the way it was, and a need some feel to present the West in tidy packages that fit the presenter’s ideals, as opposed to its true state.

“Hunger for the Wild” also explores the colorful characters of the region’s past, the unique aspects it has retained through the years and how these have contributed to the enduring love affair with the Wild West. The author goes on to share what can be done to combat the ill effects of decisions that have led to over-taxed water supplies, pollution and sprawling suburbs.

“Johnson is absolutely right that the myth of the ‘Wild West’ has deep cultural roots and staying power. He surveys a rich array of writing about that myth and demonstrates how complex and firm a hold it has on the American mind,” said Donald Worster, author of “A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell.”

Johnson is also author of “New Westers: The West in Contemporary American Culture,” “From Hell to Jackson Hole: A Poetic History of the American West” and “Violence and Grace: Poems about the American West.”

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