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An essay is presented on 20th century Texas oil magnate Everette DeGolyer. It argues that DeGolyer was the true-to-life embodiment of the fictional Texas oilman J.E. Ewing portrayed in the U.S. television series "Dallas" in the late 20th century. It compares and contrasts DeGolyer with the character, explores the cultural popularity of oilmen, and the transformation of the U.S. oil industry and its relationship with politics and power during the 20th century.

The article discusses the petroleum industry, climate change, and politics as of June 2012 and how contemporary historians can establish a foundation for studying such subjects. The author examines what she calls U.S. attachment to petroleum-based energy and the implications it has upon the environment, the responses to climate change by the U.S. government, and the identification of historical turning points in the petroleum industry, politics, and public opinion. She examines the work of climate-change activist Bill McKibben.

Presents an essay which argued that western historians need to explore the strong federal presence assumptions by bringing greater specificity to studies of governmental power, while setting studies within the history of American state formation. Questions raised about the meaning of federal presence; Proof of federal influence in the Western region; Time when the federal government was essentially a facilitator of western growth.

Examines the shift towards the homestead principle by the livestock industry in the United States. Homestead principle as part of a pervasive agrarian discourse about the future of the West in which economic and social values were seen to reside in settling the public domain; Systematic set of idioms and tropes in homesteading.