A historiography of one of the most notorious range wars in the American West.
In this lively account of Arizona's Rim Country War of the 1880s—what others have called "The Pleasant Valley War" —historian Daniel Justin Herman explores a web of conflict involving Mormons, Texas cowboys, New Mexican sheepherders, Jewish merchants, and mixed-blood ranchers. Their story, contends Herman, offers a fresh perspective on Western violence, Western identity, and American cultural history.
At the heart of Arizona's range war, argues Herman, was a conflict between cowboys' code of honor and Mormons' code of conscience. He investigates the sources of these attitudes, tracks them into the early twentieth century, and offers rich insights into the roots of American violence and peace.
"[A] fine anaylsis . . . Any reader will be stimulated and challenged by the use of this lens for viewing the American West and indeed much of the nation." — American Historical Review
"Deserves a wide reading by historians of the West and scholars of American violence." — Western Historical Quality
