This remarkable, innovative book portrays the American experience in microcosm. Gerald McFarland tells the story of U.S. westward expansion through the stories of his own ancestors from the arrival in Massachusetts in 1630, through successive generations that moved west, at length reaching the West Coast in 1900. "The real American history." Choice. "The people in this history are not famous, but, through the author's meticulous research, every one of them comes to life." New Yorker.