Frederick Jackson Turner was an extremely influential U.S. historian, who is best known for his "frontier thesis", which proposed that American democracy was profoundly shaped by the existence of an undeveloped frontier area from the founding through the 1880s. He originally put forth his idea in the essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", published just three years after the frontier was "officially closed" in 1890. He continued to elaborate on the frontier thesis as well as the influence of sectionalism, and the unique contributions of the Midwest to American democracy. His theory and other writings are still debated by modern day historians. This work, The Frontier in American History, collects a number of Turner's essays and speeches, including "The Significance of the Frontier in American History."
Chapters
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Preface 3:56
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I - The Significance of the Frontier in American History - Part 2 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:32
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I - The Significance of the Frontier in American History - Part 3 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:10
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I - The Significance of the Frontier in American History - Part 4 Read by Colleen McMahon 25:43
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II - The First Official Frontier of the Massachusetts Bay - Part 1 Read by Josh Kirsh 11:52
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II - The First Official Frontier of the Massachusetts Bay - Part 2 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:54
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II - The First Official Frontier of the Massachusetts Bay - Part 3 Read by Josh Kirsh 16:08
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III - The Old West - Part 1 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:41
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III - The Old West - Part 2 Read by Josh Kirsh 11:30
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III - The Old West - Part 3 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:15
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III - The Old West - Part 4 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:05
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III - The Old West - Part 5 Read by Josh Kirsh 16:07
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III - The Old West - Part 6 Read by Josh Kirsh 14:02
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III - The Old West - Part 7 Read by Josh Kirsh 7:10
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IV - The Middle West - Part 1 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:09
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IV - The Middle West - Part 2 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:44
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IV - The Middle West - Part 3 Read by Josh Kirsh 15:00
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IV - The Middle West - Part 4 Read by Colleen McMahon 16:59
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V - The Ohio Valley in American History - Part 1 Read by Josh Kirsh 11:49
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V - The Ohio Valley in American History - Part 2 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:10
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V - The Ohio Valley in American History - Part 3 Read by Josh Kirsh 9:32
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VI - The Significance of the Mississippi Valley in American History - Part 1 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:31
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VI - The Significance of the Mississippi Valley in American History - Part 2 Read by Colleen McMahon 13:54
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VI - The Significance of the Mississippi Valley in American History - Part 3 Read by Colleen McMahon 21:19
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VII - The Problem of the West - Part 1 Read by Josh Kirsh 14:52
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VII - The Problem of the West - Part 2 Read by Colleen McMahon 16:42
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VIII - Dominant Forces in Western Life - Part 1 Read by Josh Kirsh 13:18
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VIII - Dominant Forces in Western Life - Part 2 Read by Colleen McMahon 14:28
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VIII - Dominant Forces in Western Life - Part 3 Read by Colleen McMahon 11:24
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IX - Contributions of the West to American Democracy - Part 1 Read by Colleen McMahon 13:23
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IX - Contributions of the West to American Democracy - Part 2 Read by Colleen McMahon 15:56
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IX - Contributions of the West to American Democracy - Part 3 Read by Colleen McMahon 20:41
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X - Pioneer Ideals and the State University - Part 1 Read by Colleen McMahon 19:15
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X - Pioneer Ideals and the State University - Part 2 Read by Colleen McMahon 20:07
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XI - The West and American Ideals - Part 1 Read by Josh Kirsh 11:07
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XI - The West and American Ideals - Part 2 Read by Josh Kirsh 13:20
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XI - The West and American Ideals - Part 3 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:26
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XII - Social Forces in American History - Part 1 Read by Colleen McMahon 17:41
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XII - Social Forces in American History - Part 2 Read by Colleen McMahon 15:16
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XII - Social Forces in American History - Part 3 Read by Colleen McMahon 12:37
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XIII - Middle Western Pioneer Democracy - Part 1 Read by Josh Kirsh 11:20
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XIII - Middle Western Pioneer Democracy - Part 2 Read by Josh Kirsh 12:09
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XIII - Middle Western Pioneer Democracy - Part 3 Read by Colleen McMahon 18:49
From LibriVox, read by volunteers and in the public domain. LibriVox page (opens librivox.org) , the text (opens gutenberg.org) , all files on the Internet Archive (opens archive.org) .
