Laura Ingalls Wilder by Fred Erisman, and: Rex Beach by Abe C. Ravitz, and: John Wesley Powell by James M. Aton, and: Harold Bell Wright by Lawrence V. Tagg, and: Caroline Lockhart by Norris Yates (review)

Reviews 313 In spite of its flaws, Dirty WhiteBoysis a novelist’s novel, and it quickly overcomes its shortcomings with taut suspense and adroit shifting of point of view. If only one crime novel finds itsway into readers’hands thisyear, this should be it. CLAYREYNOLDS Denton, Texas Laura Ingalls Wilder. By Fred Erisman. (Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, Western Writers Series Number 112, 1994. 55 pages, $3.95.) RexBeach. ByAbe C. Ravitz. (Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, Western Writers Series Number 113, 1994. 52 pages, $3.95.) John Wesley Powell. By James M. Aton. (Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, Western Writers Series Number 114, 1994. 55 pages, $3.95.) Harold Bell Wright. By Lawrence V. Tagg. (Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, Western Writers Series Number 115, 1994. 51 pages, $3.95.) CarolineLockhart. By Norris Yates. (Boise, Idaho: Boise State University, Western Writers Series Number 116, 1994. 48 pages, $3.95.) The Western Writers Series has added five new titles to its uniquely valuable collec­ tion. They continue to deal withwriterswhose works haveregional popularity but should also appeal to national and even international readers. Fred Erisman’s study of Laura Ingalls Wilder is a model of logical, academic concision. The first section divides Wilder’seight “Little House”novels as follows: books dealing with familial and farming origins (Little House in the Big Woods, Farmer Boy)narrativesofgeographical movementandvocational transition (LittleHouseon thePrairie, On the Banks ofPlum Creek, By the Shore of Silver Lake, The Long Winter); and stories of personal, social, and economic maturityand mellow acceptance (Little TownonthePrairie, TheseHappy Golden Years). Erisman shows that elements in this fiction parallel aspects of America’s westering story—the maturation of Americans from independent frontiers­ men to cooperative members of society. Wilder—daughter, teacher, mother, writer— reflects this evolution in her personal life and in her fictional persona. In his second section, Erisman deftly surveys evolving criticism ofWilder. Abe C. Ravitz weaves into one chronological line details of Rex Beach’s life and critical commentary on his fiction. He shows that Beach is at his best when presenting dramatic clashes of men starkly characterized as Good (self-reliant, honorable, coura­ geous, compassionate, loving) or Evil (greedy, power-mad, manipulative, sleazy, wellheeled ), played out in a naturalistic setting of challenging, unforgiving Alaska. Ravitz explains how Beach, initiallysomething ofa muckraker and later aversatile, rich author, farmer, and film-maker, alwayspreferred primitivejustice over the profession oflaw, with its dishonest politicians andjudges. Though slighting none ofBeach’sworks, Ravitz takes special notice of The Spoilers (honest prospectors in Alaska’s goldfields vs. “legal” claimjumpers), TheIron Trail (helpful railroaders in Alaska’s coalfields vs. fuzzy-minded 314 WesternAmerican Literature conservationists), and Heart ofthe Sunset (brave Texas Rangers vs. Mexican despots and guerrillas). According to Ravitz, who provides useful historical data and commands a zestful, ebullient style, Beach asserts a he-man philosophy which respects both chance and destiny. In his study ofjohn WesleyPowell,Aton firstsketches Powell’searly life, narrates his explorations ofthe Green and Colorado rivers, discusses his organizing and synthesizing genius as director of the Smithsonian’s Bureau of Ethnology and as director of the U. S. Geological Survey, and examines Darwinism in Powell’s discussions of land formation, changes in Native American culture, and western irrigation as adaptation. Aton then analyzes the significant publications thatwere the result ofPowell’sworkin the Westand in Washington, D. C. Calling TheExploration ofthe ColoradoRiver “one of the great, reallife adventure stories in American literature,”he describes Powell’s mode of composing it, and excuses his taking afew libertieswith scientific factsto create an artistichero-quest narrative. Aton defines Powell’sReporton theLands oftheAridRegionofthe UnitedStatesas a far-seeing, anti-capitalistic critique of ill-advised government policies concerning home­ steading, irrigation, and grazing; and views Powell’s studies of Native Americans as understandably Darwinian, given the intellectual climate of the times. Lawrence V. Tagg treats Harold Bell Wright as a conservative, moralistic culture hero wronglydowngraded byelitist literarycritics. He tracesWright’slife from apovertystricken childhood in New York state and Ohio to spiritual renewal in the Missouri Ozarks (during which he became aminister), to success asa bestselling, didactic novelist in California and Arizona. Properly concentrating on Wright’snovelswhich concern the West, Tagg stresses the following: TheWinningofBarbara Worth(about the reclamation of...