Frontier, from the Latin meaning
front, refers to a region just beyond or at the edge of a settled
area. It is a new, unsettled place, and sometimes an undeveloped
idea, but always a place of change. The American frontier began
along the Atlantic Coast as the outer edge of Europe in the
1600s. By 1670, the line of settlement was spreading north and
south along the Appalachian Mountain barrier, which fell to
impatient settlers from 1763 through 1815. The frontier surged
westward from 1806, beginning with the explorations of Lewis
& Clark, through the 1890s. The last frontier moved back
eastward from California when disappointed Forty-Niners spread
out into Arizona Territory, Nevada, Idaho and Montana.
What's The Appeal?
Even before Buffalo Bill Cody organized his Wild West Show
in 1883, the American frontier had captured the interest of
people all over the world. Stories of explorers, abundant
untouched land, and unlimited opportunities, gave birth to the
American dream—anyone could become anything.
The
frontier is the place where individualism, strength and integrity
are victorious against great hardship. The person brave enough to
leave home and come to America brought a strong sense of
adventure, a sense of destiny and most of all a sense of
hope.
The mythic element of the frontier also involves
community, new roots found by a hero and heroine who are often
wanderers seeking a home. On the frontier, home became the people
you loved.
A quintessential man's world, the frontier is
an appealing setting for romance novels because of the kind of
people it demands. The hero seeks adventure, conquers the
unknown, and gives the wilderness a spirit we can know—a
human heart and mind. Lone, wild and earthy, frontiersmen draw
the American ethic in flesh and bone.
The heroine, while
often forced by outside events to journey to or live on the
frontier, changes in the experience. She succeeds in a man's
world, tames it and is always worthy of the frontier hero. She
encounters a wild, unruly force in the hero, conquers her fears
with love, and fends for herself to make a real home wherever
circumstances have brought her. Love is the one treasure great
enough to risk honor and life to claim. The lovers go out to the
edge of danger and return safely to shape new possibilities
together.
Authors' Thoughts...
Stephanie Mittman:
"The frontier represents life as we
wish it were. The earliest lessons we learned—like 'virtue
is its own reward'—are true. The bad guys get hanged, while
the good guys win. There's integrity on the frontier."
Stephanie
recommends A Rogue in Texas by Lorraine Heath.
Bobbi Smith:
"Everybody's equal on the
frontier—there's no elite ruling class like back East. It's
a chance to 'be all you can be.' There's also the thrill of being
first in a place."
To learn what frontier settlers did for fun,
read Seeking Pleasuresin the Old West by David
Dary.
Maggie Osborne:
"New beginnings are exciting. The
frontier was an odd mixture of danger and moral values—a man
could be a bandit in Montana and then a lawman in Kentucky."
Maggie recommends anything by Robin Lee Hatcher, but
particularly Devlin's Promise.
While certain lands, like Atlantis, are mythical and imaginary,
the American frontier is mythical and real. Beginning their
journey on the eastern coast of America, colonists tumbled
westward, seeking new land, autonomy, and success. The living
embodiment of the earliest American ideals, the wild frontier
demanded a level of will and determination little needed in the
well-settled countries of Europe. Since romance frequently
features a theme of triumph against adversity, the frontier is
the perfect setting for a hero who is a heady mix of reliability,
earthy sexuality, and an adventurous heart, and a heroine,
infused with similar qualities, who must establish a personal
stronghold of intimacy and community in the most untameable of
lands.
-Constance Martin
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