Western -

The genre has shifted through three main eras: classic, revisionist, and neo-Westerns [36]. Today, contemporary authors like Cormac McCarthy and Larry McMurtry continue to reinvent the tradition, moving away from simple "white hat vs. black hat" tropes to explore the darker, more unforgiving nature of the frontier.

This expansion came at a heavy cost to Indigenous peoples, whose populations decreased rapidly due to war, disease, and the loss of traditional hunting grounds [20]. Evolution of the Western Western

The transcontinental railroad was the single greatest contributor to development, opening the region to world markets and even standardizing time zones [10]. The genre has shifted through three main eras: