The American West by Dee Brown (review)

Reviews 173 reading, and likew ise, how Native readers from unrelated cultures make sense of such scenes. Finally, the phenomenon of an author using different codes for dual audiences, thus hoping to expose both to each other’s cultural perspective, strikes me as neither uniquely contemporary nor exclusive to Native American writers. N evertheless, Ruppert’s overview of the culturally-determined ways in which these novels may be interpreted w ill make M ediation a valuable resource for many— in particular, perhaps, for those teaching these novels either for the first time or in the context of American literature surveys and multi-ethnic lit­ erature courses. MARK T. HOYER U niversity o f California, D avis The Am erican West. By Dee Brown. (New York: Scribners, 1994. 461 pages, $25.00.) Dee Brown’s book is notable for its sympathetic portrayal of Native Americans (to be expected from the author of Bury My H eart at Wounded K nee), and its excellent archival photographs. Indeed, Brown’s historical tech­ nique is like a snapshot: a story or character shown briefly and meant to be rep­ resentative. Yet often the use of a verbal image is merely illustrative— sound­ bite history— and this book w ill not satisfy the serious student or scholar. For the lay reader, too, this book has some shortcomings. Because The Am erican West was adapted from three previously-published books, it som etim es suffers from too much editing. Many sections of this book seem truncated. W hile Brown writes of Indian battles with a novelist’s skill, other parts of the book are hurt by a lack of immediate veracity: he seem s to write without being there or having been there. For instance, he places W yoming in the “northwest.” He barely mentions Utah or the Mormons. The West in this book is more idea than place. Brown’s story lacks an overall theory or framework. There doesn’t seem to be any purpose, or lack of purpose, behind the events. The only thread he draws through the story is the oppression and mistreatment of Native Americans, and again, this is one of the book’s strengths. Yet Brown is quite uncritical in his acceptance of the resource-damaging, boom-and-bust western legacy; he doesn’t seem to grasp the importance of aridity— the controlling fact of the West; and he tends to overlook primary source material from common people (who might be truly representative), in favor of fuzzy anecdotes and legends. 174 Western American Literature Popular history can go beyond im ages and entertaining stories. After read­ ing The Am erican West, I had a hankering for some straight DeVoto and Stegner, chased with Limerick. KEVIN HOLDSWORTH Salt Lake City, Utah When Coyote Howls: A Lavaland Fable. By Robert Gish. (Albuquerque: University of New M exico Press, 1994. 138 pages, $22.95.) As unbelievable and unnatural as it may seem, Coyote has lost his howl. Coyote the trickster, the prankster, the hero, the fool finds him self at a disad­ vantage, and he w ill need to gain the trust and aid of those very characters who in the past might have suffered the result of C oyote’s pranks or worse— his car­ nivorous appetite. When Coyote com es to Raven for help, Raven deliberates cautiously as he exam ines C oyote’s sincerity: “Pardon me in hesitating, but you know what they say about you. Que Vato! Coyote, Huehue hijito! I fear you are up to no good. Fear you are fooling. Are you, in your tendencies toward m is­ chief and misadventure, really telling me the truth?” Finally convinced, Raven advises Coyote that he must take a perilous journey to Lavaland where he w ill ask Moon to return his voice. U sing the same wit and cunning previously used for m ischief, Coyote must convince everyone he meets of his sincerity in this quest. C oyote’s community recognizes that like all of the intricate parts of their world, they need C oyote’s howl as much as he does. Robert G ish’s humorous frolic through Lavaland explores the character and myths of Coyote, but most importantly...