| Acknowledgments | |
| Introduction: "The Angle of Vision" | |
| 1 | Homesites | 1 |
| "The Ancient People," from The Song of the Lark | 3 |
| "The Myths and Legends of My Grandmothers," from The Ways of My Grandmothers | 8 |
| "Slim Man Canyon," "Prayer to the Pacific," and "Ts'its'tsi'nako, Thought-Woman" | 13 |
| "A Hopi Creation Story" from Pueblo Indian Religion | 17 |
| "Loneliness Without Despair" and "The Night It Rained," from We Fed Them Cactus | 23 |
| "First Meeting of Piutes and Whites," from Life Among the Piutes | 35 |
| 2 | Landfall | 43 |
| from "Overland Diary, 1847" | 44 |
| "Letter from Oregon Territory, 1850" | 50 |
| Gold Rush Women | 52 |
| Sweethearts of the Road | 55 |
| "A Handcart Pioneer", from Recollections of a Handcart Pioneer of 1860 | 59 |
| "A Woman's Trip to the Klondike" | 65 |
| "Its Wavering Image," from Mrs. Spring Fragrance | 73 |
| 3 | The Gift of Good Land | 81 |
| "The Land of Little Rain," "The Scavengers," and "The Basket Maker," from The Land of Little Rain | 83 |
| "Impressions of an Indian Childhood" | 93 |
| "The Wild Land," from O Pioneers! | 100 |
| from Letters of a Woman Homesteader | 109 |
| "Cooking in a Telegraph Camp," from Plain Anne Ellis | 120 |
| 4 | Hardscrabble | 125 |
| "The Early Years" from Daughter of Earth | 127 |
| "A Father's Portrait," from Old Jules: Portrait of a Pioneer | 137 |
| "Planting and Thinning," from Second Hoeing | 152 |
| Poems from Dakota Bones | 166 |
| 5 | Storytellers | 187 |
| "An Alaska Legend," from Two Old Women: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival | 189 |
| from Calamity Jane's Letters to her Daughter | 197 |
| "The Rapture of Hetty" and "Pretty Girls in the West" | 205 |
| from Ramona | 217 |
| "Cogewea The Half-Blood," from Cogewea | 231 |
| "The Journey" from The Leaning Tower and Other Stories | 237 |
| "Making Do" | 254 |
| 6 | First Person | 263 |
| "Troublesome Memories," from Earth Horizon: An Autobiography | 265 |
| WPA Oklahoma Slave Narratives | 270 |
| "Women," from Papago Woman | 284 |
| "Seasons," from Winter in Taos | 288 |
| "Oral Histories of Ranch Women" | 298 |
| "The Double A Ranch," from Mother's Letters | 306 |
| "Writing My Grandmother's Life," from Riding the White Horse Home | 316 |
| "My American Life," from The Woman Warrior: Memories of a Girlhood Among Ghosts | 327 |
| 7 | Rewriting History | 333 |
| Indian Reform Letter | 335 |
| "Many Soldiers Falling in to Camp," from Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of the Oglalas | 341 |
| "The Apaches Settle Down as Prisoners," from Geronimo: The Man, His Time, His Place | 359 |
| "She Loves Sitting Bull," from Warrior for a Lost Nation: A Biography of Sitting Bull | 367 |
| "Sitting on Red Cloud's Grave," from Bead on an Ant Hill | 377 |
| 8 | Walking the Line | 391 |
| "The Cripple Creek Strike," from The Autobiography of Mother Jones | 393 |
| "I Want You Women Up North To Know" and "The Strike" | 407 |
| "Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983," from Holding the Line: Women in the Great Arizona Mine Strike of 1983 | 419 |
| Cannery Women's Songs from the UCAPAWA News | 437 |
| "The Head-Cutters" | 441 |
| 9 | Talking Back | 447 |
| from "Response to the Most Illustrious Poetess, Sor Filotea de la Cruz" | 449 |
| "Shikata Ga Nai," from Farewell to Manzanar | 455 |
| "Two Cut-Off Hands," from Lakota Woman | 467 |
| "The Clan of One-Breasted Women," from Refuge | 478 |
| "Faith and Loving in Las Vegas," from Carnal Acts | 490 |
| "An Autobiography," from Angela Davis: An Autobiography | 501 |
| "Savages in the Mirror: Phantoms and Fantasies in America," from Off the Reservation: Reflections on Boundary-Busting, Border-Crossing, Loose Canons | 508 |
| 10 | Looking Within Myself I Am Many Parts: Western Women's Writing Today | 525 |
| "Holy Water" from The White Album | 526 |
| "The Solace of Open Spaces," from The Solace of Open Spaces | 533 |
| "Clay People" | 545 |
| "Borderlands," from Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza | 549 |
| "Salad La Raza," "Desmet, Idaho, March 1969," and "Custer Lives in Humbolt County" | 563 |
| "Talking to the Dead," from Talking to the Dead | 568 |
| "Impersonating the Lord" and "Lone Star Republic," from You Got to Dance With Them What Brung You | 579 |
| "How Not to Cross the Border," from A Long Way from St. Louie | 584 |
| "Remember the Alamo," from Woman Hollering Creek | 591 |
| Biographical Information About Western Women Photographers in The Western Women's Reader | 597 |
| Credits and Permissions | 601 |
| About the Editors | 607 |
Format: Paperback, 640 pages
