This text is one of three companion volumes for young readers to the PBS television documentary, The West, by filmmakers Ken Burns, Stephen Ives and Geoffrey C. Ward, who also collaborated on the series The Civil War. Focusing on the people of the West, this volume looks at life there before the arrival of settlers from Europe. It considers a number of questions such as: how did it feel to be the first white woman to cross the Continental Divide, or one of the many men from China who travelled to America to help build a continent-spanning railroad?; what was it like to live in a house made of sod on a vast, treeless prairie?; and what was it like to travel more than a thousand miles from home in the hope of finding gold? It also looks at how the natives had to decide between staying true to their ancient traditions or breaking with the past and adopting the ways of white people. The volume introduces readers to 15 different people of the West, ordinary men and women who were faced with extraordinary circumstances as they struggled to make this land their home.