Realizing Westward: American Character and Cowboy Mythology by Stephen P. Cook (review)

3 2 4 W e s t e r n A m e r ic a n L it e r a t u r e F a l l 2 0 0 8 Kyle’s attention to character development and plot are to be envied, and she has added to western American literature a portrayal of contemporary culture in many small, western towns. She has depicted the reticence and hard work that are part of a long-standing horse ranch and the newcomers’ unrealis­ tic expectations of the West and its people. Kyle has also successfully captured the darker side of the West: a family with its share of economic and emotional woes, the toll of a beautiful but harsh landscape, and the difficulty of living with animals and people and treating them both fairly. Realizing Westward: American Character and Cowboy Mythology. By Stephen P. Cook. Boston, MA: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2007. 172 pages, $56.00. Reviewed by Claire Hughes Weber State University, Ogden, Utah This collection of essays takes its title from the Robert Frost poem “The Gift Outright,” a poem that mourns our rough approach to the pristine West, cel­ ebrates the human capacity for growth, and hints at unexplored territory still waiting to teach us about ourselves. Indeed, Realizing Westward does explore new territory and adds substantially to the body of critical theory written about the West and its influence on the American psyche. As accomplished as the contributing writers are, the book is also a great primer in western mythology, starting with its fundamental principles and working quickly forward to the present. The book’s introduction, discussion questions, and conclusion suggest ways to apply the information to current national and international political situations. Through literature, film, and critical theory, the book explores how the American western worldview in turn characterizes global perspectives on the American West. Each section includes essays by Stephen Cook and two to three other luminary thinkers in the genre. In the main, Cook’s own essays range broadly, pulling from sources across the body of literature relevant to the subjects he highlights. In fact, the volume could function well as a syllabus for a survey course in the development of western character and worldview. Cook references current political commentary from publications such as the New York Times and The Atlantic Monthly, dismissing any tendency toward a one-dimensional stance and exploring the complexity of constructing identity and political per­ spective. In that vein, he posits Osama Bin Laden as the ultimate cowboy and compares him to prototypical frontiersmen. Provocative questions at the end of each chapter invite the reader to assimilate the new information into current sociopolitical concepts and events. Cook’s inclusion of study questions and discussion topics based on films and books outside these pages encourages the use of supplemental texts. The arrangement of the essays effectively leads students through each section, with B o o k R e v ie w s 3 2 5 interpretation and bridge pieces by the author. The section on film, “The Reel West,” provides insightful and accessible essays, both critical and historical, by Thomas Schatz and Richard Slotkin. Also included is the introduction to Jane Tompkins’s West of Everything (1993). The variety in the essay topics and discussion questions is a clear nod to academics who work to explore western mythology through multiple genres, such as film, literature, and politics. This second edition includes contributions by stalwarts of western criticism. It gives us essays by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Wallace Stegner, American studies professor Michael Marsden, sociologist Robert Bellah, film studies professor Thomas Schatz, and critic/historian Richard Slotkin. The essays move chronologically from an early article on American character by Frenchman Hector St. John de Crevecoeur in 1781 to discussions on the evolution of the western hero in film and conclude with a recent piece by Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday. Momaday ties in themes from the book’s title that challenge western mythology and encourage continued reimagining of the western identity. The essays throughout this collection intertwine and reference each other, linking major concepts in western criticism and pro­ moting further scholarly exploration of the cultural choices...