//In Dead Man, the Myth of the West Railroads Its Anti-Heroes to Their Doom

In Dead Man, the Myth of the West Railroads Its Anti-Heroes to Their Doom

Every Night & every Morn
Some to Misery are Born
Every Morn and every Night
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to sweet delight
Some are Born to Endless Night

—from “Auguries of Innocence” by William Blake

America’s centuries-long westward colonial expansion is a global obsession—a kind of Platonic ideal of freedom and