Growing Up in the Midwest ed. by Clarence A. Andrews, and A Bibliographical Guide to Midwestern Literature by Gerald C. Nemanic (review)

Reviews 179 Yosemite, Its Discovery, Its Wonders & Its People. By Margaret Sanborn. (New York: Random House, 1981. Index + 283 pages, $17.50.) Never before has a major New York publisher issued a history of Yosemite. What is going on? Is the East at last recognizing the importance of California’s, indeed the nation’s, crown jewel? Author of this new book is Margaret Sanborn, a second generation Californian and a first-rate writer. Her earlier books, especially a history of the Tetons, garnered well-deserved praise, as will this one. Yosemite is not a scholarly or thorough history of the Park. Instead it is episodic, with chapters on John Muir, Chief Tenaya, glaciers, photog­ raphers, and the usual complement of significant pioneers. Undoubtedly the publisher asked for picturesque characters which are described in chapters on Grizzly Adams, Lady Yelverton and John Lembert. Their Yosemite activities and impact were minor if not peripheral to its history. The book is far from “the first complete story of this magnificent natural wonder” that the publisher claims. In fact, coverage ends, except for Indian history, soon after the turn of the century. There is no account of the Park Service’s long stewardship, concessionaires, the impact of autos and the people they bring, or the dramatic changes since 1910. Nevertheless, the account is good reading and authentic. The author’s research was meticulous. Not only is that apparent in the body of the work, but in the 24 pages of detailed chapter notes at the end. Bless Mrs. Sanborn for painstakingly preparing this documentation, and the publisher for print­ ing it. A bibliography adds to the book as does a map and a block of pictures. SHIRLEY SARGENT, Yosemite, California Growing Up in the Midwest. Edited by Clarence A. Andrews (Ames: The Iowa State University Press, 1981. 215 pages, $11.95.) A Bibliographical Guide to Midwestern Literature. By Gerald C. Nemanic. (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1981. 380 pages, $28.50.) In his carefully chosen collection, Clarence A. Andrews shows the world the truth that all of us who grew up midwesterners know, and have tried (sometimes vainly) to explain to a skeptical East or a half-doubtful West. It is the truth of the area’s richness and industry and poetry and diversity. Here are illustrations of its humor and ideals and courage — and — yes— its racism and poverty and frustration. In short, here we see the Midwest as it is: a place where life is lived richly, with both joy and suffering. Twenty-two writers are represented in this entertaining and informative volume. Some are poets; some are women; some are black; one is a Jew; one is a Greek; a couple are Roman Catholics. Here are poems, excerpts from novels, essays, bits of autobiography. We learn what it was like to be 180 Western American Literature the richest little girl in town, and what it was like to be small and black and poor. We experience Cub scouting, and fishing, and punishment for filching plums from a grocery store. We see how a famous journalist learned the newspaper trade in his family’s small-town newspaper office. And all of these pieces — poetry or prose — could have been written only in the center of the continent, only by those born there, bred in small towns like Elkader, Iowa, or cities like Cedar Rapids — or even Chicago. As R. V. Cassill, in his selection, says, “the writer and the criminal are two stems from the same root, simultaneously outcast and monstrously intimate with family or town.” Andrews, in his introduction, explains that he has chosen his twenty-two authors “because of their track records and recollections and perceptions of growing up in the Midwest.” But why, for example, is there nothing of Willa Cather, or Sinclair Lewis, or Hamlin Garland? Paul Engle is ignored, as is Mari Sandoz and Rose Wilder Lane, and. . . . Then, in the very act of listing what seem obvious omissions, we realize the need for selectivity. Andrews himself observes: “The whole truth about the Middle West would fill a library.” From the almost incredible richness before him he has picked out intriguing samples of vivid writing. A glance...