Epiphany in the Wilderness: Hunting, Nature, and Performance in the Nineteenth-Century American West

Description: "Stories of grand adventure and hunting loomed large in the material and the imagined landscape of the nineteenth-century West. Jones explores social, political, economic, and environmental dynamics of hunting using performance as trail guide and production of a '"cultural ecology of the chase"' in art and taxidermy"--

Review Quotes:

"A compelling, multi-faceted analysis of the importance of the West--and its taming--in our national narrative."
--Jan E. Dizard, Charles Hamilton Houston Professor of American Culture, Amherst College

"As a measure of hunting's power, Jones deftly offers a sophisticated account of hunting and its evocation by women and Indigenous peoples to challenge the fraternity of white male hunters and the power they wielded. Her compelling examples and anecdotes artfully illustrate her arguments, and her facilities as an imaginative historian are everywhere evident. . . . Highly recommended."
--CHOICE

"[Epiphany in the Wilderness] makes a compelling case for hunting's significance and thus stands as an original contribution to the cultural and environmental history of the West."
--Montana The Magazine of Western History

​"[​Epiphany in the Wilderness​]​ provides a rich and​ ​detailed narrative that illuminates the significance of the hunt​ ​in the nineteenth-century American West and offers a meaningful​ ​contribution to western studies.​"​
--Western American Literature

​"[A​] ​rich account of the complex ways that hunting constituted a theater where women and men could craft for themselves diverse social identities. . . . we are still living with the legacies of these diverse hunting performances, and Epiphany in the Wilderness offers readers a broad and provocative foundation for historical reflection."
--Western Historical Quarterly

"[A] well-conceived, wide-ranging reexamination of hunting in the American West, executed with wit and lively writing."
​―Southwestern Historical Quarterly

"The many-faceted inquiries of Jones' work will provide grist for discussion for many years to come."
​―Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"[Karen Jones] calls forth a refreshingly diverse cast of characters, processes, and perspectives in this ambitious book. . . . Jones's characterizations of early western women, both well-known and obscure, are rich in detail and effectively disrupt any visions of a uniformly masculine American frontier."
​―Journal of Historical Geography

"[A] valuable addition to our understanding of nineteenth-century western history and literature. . . . This kind of creative thinking should stimulate classroom discussions."
​―Journal of American History