Catholicism in the Twentieth-Century American West: The Next Frontier

Abstract

The author presents a case for additional scholarship on the twentieth-century American West. He draws heavily on the methodology of the New Western historians, especially their emphasis on common regional identity even amidst the extensive geographical and cultural diversity of the West. The author suggests three overarching themes (extensive federal investment, tourism, and urbanization) derived from contemporary scholarship on this period that Catholic historians might profitably use to study the interplay between the region and the Roman Catholic Church.