Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890. The genre is commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. The frontier is depicted in Western fiction as a sparsely populated, hostile region patrolled by cowboys, outlaws, sheriffs, and numerous other stock gunslinger characters. Western narratives often concern the gradual attempts to tame the crime-ridden American West using wider themes of justice, freedom, rugged individualism, manifest destiny, and the national history and identity of the United States. Native American populations were often portrayed as averse foes or savages. Originating in vaquero heritage and Western fiction, the genre popularized the Western lifestyle, country-Western music, and… Read by Scott Burley. Recorded May 22, 2006; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=157621254 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_(genre) Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Western(genre)-060526.ogg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license. Chapter images come from the recorded article via Wikimedia Commons; each chapter links its file page for credits. This show is an independent community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation.