Rarely in history have the extremes of the human experience been in as close proximity as they were in the early days of the "wild west".   Stories of utter deprivation or colossal wealth; limitless freedom or deliberate genocide; technological subjugation of the earth or frightful natural catastrophe; they're all there.  In The American West, author Dee Brown tells hundreds of such tales, including all the usual suspects: cowboys, Indians, gamblers, sheriffs, settlers, miners, oilmen, soldiers, preachers and malcontents.   With these varied threads he weaves an exhaustive and entertaining historical tapestry. 

Dee Brown (1908-2002) was an Arkansas born and bred librarian and writer most famous for Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970), a history of the Native American genocide west of the Mississippi.  In The American West he includes many of the same stories, but also adds the history of the ranchers, settlers and other folks of the western frontier.    In a lengthy introduction, Brown describes how he collaborated with Martin F. Schmitt, a fellow librarian he met while serving in World War II, with whom he shared an avid interest in the history of the American west.  The book is based on an extensive collection of old photographs edited by Schmitt, which serves as the basis for much of the writing by Brown. 

Brown divides the vast story into twenty-nine chapters, covering one subject at a time rather than presenting a pure chronology.   This results in small amounts of overlap as one topic impinges on another, but this is handled adeptly and rarely results in unnecessary repetition.   Each chapter can stand alone, but reading them in order does help smooth out the unavoidably bumpy narrative a bit.   The book covers the time period  from the start of the Oregon Trail in the early 1840s to the defeat of Pancho Villa in 1916, attempting to document every conflict, plague, boom or bust in that span. 

"Indian lands would never be violated."
 
As I expected, Brown is at his best when he writes of the Native American genocide, narrating the sagas of Black Kettle, Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Geronimo and many others.    He creates a passionate picture of the Native American plight by providing abundant details with quotes from the protagonists, detailed maps of the battles and captivating photos of some of the victims.   Brown moved me with his story of the final day of Captain Jack of the Modocs - a northern California tribe uprooted by the gold rush.

            "The Modoc leaders were taken to Klamath reservation and placed in jail.  During his last moments, a minister came to comfort Captain Jack.  The chief received the visitor politely.  ‘You say, Mr. Preacher, that the place I am going to is a nice place.  Do you like this place you call Heaven?'
            The minister replied that Heaven was a beautiful place.
            ‘Well,' Jack continued, without a change of tone or expression, ‘I tell you what I will do.  I give you twenty-five head of ponies if you take my place today, as you say Heaven is such a nice place.  Because I do not like to go right now.'
            The visitor declined Captain Jack's offer.  The Modoc chief was hanged, his body preserved and taken on a tour of the East where it was put on public exhibition, admission ten cents.  The remnants of his Modoc band were exiled to Indian Territory."
           
I was impressed by Brown's ability to take me into the mind of the participants, giving me a sense of their actual experience.   While he places strong emphasis on the Native American persecution, he still does an excellent job of presenting events in a balanced manner that provides the perspective of both the chiefs and the generals.   

"EVERYTHING GOES IN WICHITA"

On a lighter side, The American West also contains extensive discussion of the westward expansion of the United States, covering such topics as the growth of the railroads, the struggles of the Great Plains farmers and the tough life of the cowboy.   While a sixteen page chapter on the birth of the American beef industry may not seem too appealing, Brown provides enough fascinating anecdotes and curious details to make it quite entertaining.    He also tells the birth and death stories of many wild frontier towns, such as Dodge City, Kansas; Cheyenne, Wyoming and Cripple Creek, Colorado, reporting the trials and tribulations of such notables as Teddy Roosevelt, Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok and dozens more.   Apparently, if you were born a William you had to spice your name up a bit to make history. 

In addition, he includes a chapter on "Jollification", discussing the many entertainment options to be found on the frontier. 

"Weddings offered frontier folks special opportunities for jollification of a rowdy variety.   ‘Belling and fussing' were carried to extremes.  One crowd followed a pair of newlyweds to their home, shot through the windows, broke down the door, dragged the couple out, cut open the feather beds, and tore up the floor.  ‘It requires backbone to get married out this way,' said the local paper."

Great photographs, but some negative thoughts

About sixty archival photographs add a lot to Brown's narrative and I really like the idea of including them, in particular the many Native American portraits.   But it seems like the concept ran out steam about half way through the 400 page book as there are only about a dozen pictures in the last 200 pages.   Each picture is accompanied by an informative caption, but unfortunately it's lifted directly from the adjacent text.  I found this intensely annoying.  It's as if the author or editor expects the reader to either read the text or view the pictures with captions, but never do both.  If I'm going to make the effort to stop reading the text in order to read the caption, I want to be rewarded with more information.   This may seem like a small complaint, but after I did it a few dozen times I wanted to start hitting my head with a mallet.

A useful chronology of events, a vast bibliography and a complete index are placed at the end of the volume. 

"When he left home he was a smooth-faced, good-looking boy, and he sends home the likeness of an ourangoutang [sic] with the upper part of his face shaved!"

In The American West, Brown succeeds in painting a vast and detailed landscape of the frontier experience from many points of view.   His wide-ranging, anecdotal writing style kept me entertained throughout.   While I expect this book covers a lot of the same territory as Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, I'll cut Brown some slack given that he was 86 years old at the time this book was published.   Despite my few gripes, I give this a strong recommendation for anyone interested in American frontier history. 

Recommended: Yes