Over the years, the idea of ​​the western frontier of American history has been unfairly and falsely romanticized by the film, novel, and television industries. People now believe that the West was populated by gun-toting cowboys in ten-gallon hats who went off on whimsical, idealistic adventures. Not only is this perception of the West far from the truth, but no mention of the atrocities of Indian bloodshed, greed, and reckless, often deceptive government programs is even present in the average citizen's understanding of the frontier. This misunderstanding of the West is summarized by the statement: “Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis was as real as the myth of the West. The development of the West has, in fact, been a century of disgrace.” The frontier thesis, proposed by Turner in 1893 at the World's Columbian Exposition, viewed the frontier as the American psyche's sole preserver of democracy and republicanism, forcing Americans to conquer and settle new areas. This thesis provides a somewhat quixotic explanation of the expansion, as opposed to Helen Hunt Jackson's book, A Century of Dishonor, which really paints the settlement of the West as a model of cruelty and presumption. Thus, the frontier thesis, first proposed in The Significance of the Frontier in American History, is, in fact, false, like the myth of the West. Many historians, however, have attempted to debunk Western mythology. Specifically, these historians refuted common beliefs that cattle ranching was accepted as legal by the government, that the business was profitable, that cattle herders were completely independent of any outside influence, and that anyone could become a cattle herder. livestock. p......middle of paper......by the American government and rightly rebelled. This rebellion, unlike the others, was successful, as Red Cloud forced the closure of the Bozeman Trail. Nonetheless, it demonstrates the oppression of Native Americans by the American government. All in all, the treatment of the American Indians during the westward expansion was cruel and harsh. Thus, A Century of Dishonor conveys the truth about the frontier more than the thesis about the frontier. Furthermore, common beliefs about the Old West are based on lies and deception. The desperation that comes from the knowledge that people will continue to believe in these false ideas is summed up by Terrell's statement: "Perhaps nothing will ever penetrate the fog of puerile romanticism with which writers unfaithful to their profession and to themselves have surrounded the Westerner who made a living in the saddle” (Terrell 182).