The title African Americans in the West, while seemingly simple and straightforward, in reality reflects a tremendously complex history of a people enslaved, translocated, and subjected to varying degrees of social servitude, isolation, and exclusion over an extended period of time and space.
When viewed anthropologically and sociologically as well as historically, this compilation of secondary sources reveals much about the enduring nature of cultural traditions and values, about cultural conflict, racial subjugation and fear, human perseverance, and perhaps most importantly, about what it really means to be an American—whether black, white, red, brown, or yellow. A simple perusal of the listed titles is in itself a learning experience, for they are symbolic of the trials and tribulations inherent in the forced historic linkage of very different geographic and cultural worlds.
While it is a major accomplishment to compile such a diverse and unique body of literature, it is an even greater feat to make such a compilation usable for researchers. Bruce Glasrud has achieved a high degree of content utility through the use of carefully conceived topical and geographical categories that allow the user to easily locate references of specific interest, thus giving structure and coherent sense to the work.
The inclusion of special reference categories, such as urban communities, works of fiction, and motion pictures, adds a logical depth of content that increases the overall usefulness of the work for interdisciplinary research.