The American West in Film: Critical Approaches to the Western by Jon Tuska (review)

Reviews 97 The American West in Film: Critical Approaches to the Western. By Jon Tuska. (Lincoln: Bison Books, Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1988. Reprint. Orig. published Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1985. 303 pages, $10.95.) Both the prose and the premises of The American West in Film are hard to fathom. Tuska’ssentences often run 85 words and longer, leaving the reader tangled in their coils. Writing about both the Western and its commentators, he shows little love for either, except for certain French film critics whom he quotes extensively in and out of French, even offeringAmerican readers French words to explain English ones, e.g. “authorship (l’auteurisme).” He castigates Westerns for racism and historical inaccuracies, and scorns American writers from Turner to Cawelti. Bison’s decision to issue a reprint of this work is puzzling. JANE MADDOCK Western Montana College REPRINTS OF NOTE University of Alberta Press Strange, Thomas Bland. Gunner Jingo’sJubilee. $14.95. University of Arizona Press Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire. $24.95. Chapin, Frederick H. The Land of the Cliff-Dwellers. $9.95. Zwinger, Ann. Beyond the Aspen Grove. $13.95. Bison Books. University of Nebraska Press Clark, Robert A., editor. The Killing of Chief Crazy Horse. $16.95/5.95. Graham, W. A. The Story of the Little Big Horn. $26.95/8.95. Guild, Thelma S. and Harvey L. Carter. Kit Carson: A Pattern for Heroes. $9.95. Hooker, William Francis. The Bullwhacker: Adventures of a Frontier Freighter. $5.95. Krakel, Dean F. The Saga of Tom Horn: The Story of a Cattleman’s War. $22.95/8.95. Mills, Joe. A Mountain Boyhood. $27.95/9.95. Mills, Enos A. Wild Life on the Rockies. $27.95/8.95. Neihardt, John G. Indian Tales and Others. $25.95/8.95. ---------.Black Elk Speaks. $7.95. 98 Western American Literature Rhodes, Eugene Manlove. The Best Novels and Stones of Eugene Manlove Rhodes. $12.95. Ronda, James P. Lewis and Clark among the Indians. $8.95. Strahorn, Carrie Adell. Fifteen Thousand Miles by Stage. V. 1 &2. $9.95/$8.95. Stuck, Hudson. Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled. $32.50/11.95. Taylor, Bayard. Eldorado: or Adventures in the Path of Empire. $27.95/9.95. Van de Water, Frederic F. Glory-Hunter: A Life of General Custer. $10.95. Wellman, Paul I. The Trampling Herd: The Story of the Cattle Range in America. $10.95. Creative Arts Book Company Houston, JamesD. Gig. $8.95. North Point Press Carpenter, Don. A Couple of Comedians. $8.95. Sierra Club Books Abbey, Edward. The Best of Edward Abbey. $10.95. Southern Methodist University Press Capps, Benjamin. The Brothers of Uterica. $22.50/10.95. ---------. Sam Chance. $22.50/10.95. Tolbert, Frank X. The Staked Plain. $22.50/10.95. ...