This book presents papers by eleven European scholars that explore the ambivalent representations of an American West that follows "no single trajectory, creating instead a series of lines and rhythms, always moving, crossing, and folding" (Neil Campbell).

The papers explore the use of the American West as an ideal or a realistic setting in different cultural productions, ranging from music ("Sing-along Melodies of the West") to film ("Western Images in Motion") or comics ("Graphic Representations of the American West"), and including popular cultural fields like podcasts, fashion, and gastronomy ("Performing the West").