Poignant and provocative, Crossing the Frontier is the first book to trace the tradition of landscape photography in the American West, with over 150 images, many never before published. From the gold rush to the great railroad constructions, the early images featured here chart the rapid advance of industrialization during the nineteenth century. More recent photographs convey the complicated aftereffects of this westward expansion, documenting the trail of human encroachment on the natural environment. Published in conjunction with a major photographic exhibition, this volume features work by many important classic and contemporary photographers, as well as essays on the photography, mythology, geology, and architecture of the West by four distinguished authors.