Through an examination of the influence of French Orientalism on representations of the American West during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, this volume considers how French artistic values informed the development of western American art and the ways that orientalist aesthetics and ideology shaped both French and American colonialism and expansion. Other themes include the symbolism of desert landscapes and exotic animals, the role of world’s fairs in disseminating orientalist spectacles and stereotypes, and the importance of artistic pilgrimage to the deserts of North Africa and the American Southwest. Historical and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples of North America, Muslim Americans, and Arab Americans challenge, negotiate, and provide alternative perspectives to the artworks.