"Explores the deployment of the Frontier Myth by four US Presidents - Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush-and how a series of tragic events caused the myth's shift from liberalism to conservatism during the 1960s and 70s"-- Provided by publisher.

Theodore Roosevelt : the first cowboy president's progressive frontiers --Lyndon Baines Johnson's "showdowns for progress" -- Myth in a quagmire : Vietnam and LBJ's second presidency -- The hinge : Ronald Reagan and the conservative resurgence of the frontier myth -- Reagan's policy frontiers at home and abroad -- George W. Bush : the War on Terror and the frontier myth.