"Kharpertian develops a compelling structure for adding class and labor to the field's longtime focus on categories of social identity like gender, ethnicity, race, and indigeneity, and on space/place-based inquiries."—Amanda J. Zink, American Literary History
“Grounded in a winning insistence that ‘belonging can become a force available to all of us and that literature provides a laboratory in which to test its properties and potentialities,’ Kharpertian’s book grapples with the complex interrelations of labor, class, and space while providing a tour of some of western literature’s more down-and-out corners.”—Daniel Clausen, Western American Literature
"If one wants to learn the latest trends in analysis of literature, this is a book to read."—Stan Moore, Denver Westerners Roundup
“This book is not only important, it is essential. . . . Kharpertian’s bold book understands class, labor, and space—as profoundly interrelated functions that bounce off of each other to produce effects of identity both individual and cultural. . . . This is an act of redefinition, a vital and important corrective to the ongoing cultural work being done by an outdated yet still attractive mythos [of the West].”—Nicolas S. Witschi, editor of A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American West
“Through readings of literature by well-established and emerging western authors, Kharpertian provides a masterful study of labor and regional belonging that focuses on the struggle for dignity and sovereignty as well as the search for connections and community. Here, stories of miners, cowboys, bricklayers, and the unemployed appear alongside tales of ranchers, oil barons, bankers, and writers. The result is a powerful and engaging analysis that centers not on who won the West but on those who worked it.”—Susan Kollin, author of Captivating Westerns: The Middle East in the American West
