Preserving Western History

Preserving Western History EDITED BY ANDREW GULLIFORD UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO PRESS 2005, 414 PAGES, $34.95

This book essentially is a reader in which various scholars who bemoan the lack of awareness of "public" history try to rectify that situation. The notion of public history is a challenge to explain, but it is to be distinguished from the history taught in school.

For instance, during the Dust Bowl and Depression of the 1930s, the government hired journalists and photographers to interview and tell the story of the misery, deprivation, and poverty of the times. Many lost their farms when crops failed, encouraging the movement westward to California by the "Okies," so well portrayed in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. These human-interest stories portrayed the hardscrabble times unable to be conveyed in school.

Museums are plentiful and are great as far as they go, but the contributors say they are too confining. Indeed, the entire Yellowstone National Park is a living museum, not confined to rooms of artifacts and a roof.

The inauguration of Route 66 that pointed the nation to California made the West available to virtually anyone with a car. There still is a sense of nostalgia about its gas stations, eating places, and varied scenery by those of us who have traveled it. The old song, "Get Your Kicks on Route 66," says it all. One still can see the water bags--hanging from the front bumper area--needed for crossing the Mohave Desert. This public history project tries to convey such images and emotions.

The articles are solid primers on the history of the West. Gen. George Custer's Battlefield of the Little Big Horn (called the Greasy Grass by the Indians) has been renamed and its battle rethought, now giving the Indian side of the story. Archeological investigations were started there after a major fire revealed all sorts of artifacts. Studies determined the types of guns used, Indian positions taken, and the movement of troops under fire.

New questions are raised in regard to the disappearance of Pueblo peoples from Mesa Verde, Colo. What Indian tribe can be traced back to them? The Hopis are one group whose origins seem to lie in that ancient heritage. Social history is stressed in these essays, raising questions about how early people survived and developed a distinctive culture.

Other events such as the Colorado Ludlow massacre are discussed. Coat miners seeking union rights were fired by their employers and kicked out of company towns that gouged them by forcing them to use company scrip. Women and children and the miners were reduced to living in tents in the dead of winter. These tents were riddled by bullets from the militia who protected the strike-breakers brought in from the East. The tents also were torn down, leaving families destitute. Almost 9,000 miners struck the companies and the resulting violence caused the death of many.

Firefighter monuments and the sacrifice of human life at places such as Storm King Mountain in Colorado are given prominence. Ghost towns also preserve the history of the past.

This book is a must for any enthusiast of the American West.

Reviewed by

GERALD F. KREYCHE

American Thought Editor

COPYRIGHT 2006 Society for the Advancement of Education
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning