BOOK REVIEWS
Copper
Chorus: Mining, Politics and the Montana Press, 1889 t0 1959, by Dennis Swibold
Montana's Copper Press - To its critics it was the "Muzzled
Press," the "Reptile Press" and the "rankest
fraud that ever soiled white paper," yet for nearly seven
decades a changing chorus of newspapers owned or otherwise
controlled by the Anaconda Company wielded enormous influence
over Montana's politics and journalism. Dennis Swibold
tells the story of Anaconda journalism, from its birth in
the scandalous clashes of copper kings to the pressures that
finally brought about its demise.
Spirit
Tailings: Ghost Tales from Virginia City, Butte and Helena, by Ellen Baumler
Things that go bump in the Big Sky night provide the
framework for this book of well-researched ghost stories and
unsolved mysteries grounded in historical fact. Such
stories are part of our cultural fabric but are seldom the
object of serious research. In some instances, ghostly
sightings and unsolved mysteries substantiate the notion that
the past sometimes haunts the present.
Verbivore's
Feast, Eating Our Words, by Chrysti M. Smith
Verbivore's
Feast is a compilation of word and phrase histories, while
Eating Our Words presents dozens of delightful food-related
words in specialized dictionaries. The discussion wanders
through history and customs, with an eye on food preparation,
food fads, and the ways in which food appears in our vocabulary.
An Accidental
Novelist, by Richard S. Wheeler
This is a memoir of literary struggle, of agents and editors,
of jackets and publicity and book tours. It tells of
Wheeler's career as he went from newspaper man to novelist.
From western fiction to historical fiction and finally
biographical novels, he relates the struggles, and also the
many friends and helpful professional associates along the
way.
From The Frontier, 1929
The Irish
General, Thomas Francis Meagher, by Paul R. Wylie
The
biography first recalls Meagher's life from his boyhood and
leadership of Young Ireland in the revolution of 1848, to
his exile in Tasmania and escape to New York, where he found
fame as an orator and as editor of the Irish News.
He served in the Civil War--viewing the Union Army as training
for a future Irish revolutionary force--and rose to the rank
of brigadier general leading the famous Irish Brigade.
Wylie traces Meagher's military career in detail through the
Seven Days battles, Antietam, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville.
Wylie then recounts Meagher's final years as acting governor
of Montana Territory, sorting historical truth from false
claims made against him regarding the militia he formed to
combat attacking American Indians, and plumbing the mystery
surrounding his death. The Irish General brings
this multi-talented but seriously flawed individual to life,
offering a balanced picture of the man and a captivating reading
experience.
The Cowboy
Girl: The Life of Caroline Lockhart, by John
Clayton
John Clayton
delves into the life of Lockhart, a journalist, novelist,
publisher, and rancher who Clayton says is as "fascinating
a Westerner as I've ever read about."
Clayton says of
his book, "I wasn't looking to write a biography at all.
What I was looking for was a compelling narrative. I
wanted to tell a nonfiction story that had the sweep and drive
of great fiction. I wanted a hero who fought continual
setbacks in trying to achieve a grand ambition. And
as I learned about Lockhart, I realized that she had this
lifelong dream of living like an old-cowboy. Through
her fiction, through her civic involvements in Cody, Wyoming,
and then finally on her ranch, she was trying to live out
the Old West despite the progress of the 20th century.
It was the epic I was looking for, and only later did I realize
the book would get shelved under biography."
Born to Be, by Taylor Gordon. Covici-Friede, 1929. $4.00
The double thought--his own, and what his listener wants to hear--is the necessity laid on a negro in his contacts with white persons, according to Taylor. Such necessity must either blur the mind to hypocrisy, or sharpen it to penetrating observation. It has sharpened Gordon's. "Not even George Ade," says one critic, "has a neater knack for combining apparent irrelevancy with infallible aim." Born to Be is more than a hilariously funny book. It is a sincere autobiography of one who knows the road--and many of the byways--from ten-year-old Montana bawdy-house runner to London concert singer. It is the unique expression of an uncultured man, blessed with two supreme gifts, joy in life, and a singing voice that has brought him in touch with the artists of his day.
Muriel Draper edits the book with discriminating taste, leaving Gordon's weird constructions and futuristic spelling "as is." Black and white drawings by Covarrubias, delightful in themselves, do not fully catch the spirit of the book; and Carl Van Vechten throws a calcium light on himself by declaring Gordon's words unforgettable, and misquoting him two times out of three in one brief paragraph. Martinsdale, Mont. Grace Stone Coates
From the Deseret Morning News, October 19, 2003
Prairie Nocturne, by Ivan Doig; Scribner; 365 pages. $25
In Ivan Doig's latest novel, Prairie Nocturne, the language and the settings envelop the reader, but the characters are reserved, in the way people of another time were reserved. The story begins in 1924, years after the story in Dancing at the Rascal Fair, with two of the novel's minor characters--Susan Duff and Wes Williamson. Susan is single, a voice teacher in Helena, Mont. Wes, having inherited his father's cattle and property, is one of the richest men in the state. He is married, but he and Susan were lovers for a time, until their affair ruined his chances of being governor.
Now, after not seeing her for four years, Wes comes to Susan for a favor. A man who works for him, Monty Rathbun, a cowhand who is the descendent of slaves, has a beautiful voice. Wes asks Susan to teach him voice lessons. She agrees. Eventually, members of the Klu Klux Klan become irritated with Monty and Susan.
Doig's plot is complex but satisfying. It goes back and forth in time and place. At several points, Monty recalls his childhood and the father he barely remembers. Wes recalls his war injuries. Susan recalls the beginnings of their love.
There is a denseness to Doig's writing. It is thick with poetry and the sentences are long. As a reader, you are submerged. Each chapter ends with a kicker, drawing you on, back down into the next section of the story.
Another plus: Doig's descriptions seem real. You are in Harlem; you hear the sounds. You are on the plains of Montana, in an abandoned fort; you smell the dust and the dry wood.
Still, for all its beauty, there is a catch to this book. You have to be able to believe that two Western white people in the early 19020s could be beyond racism. You also have to believe that, even though they've been lovers, they've always held a part of themselves back.
In the end, Doig pulls it off, but just barely, and then only because his settings and language and history are so good. You accept that these characters are not going to spill their guts to you and you are not going to understand them, not completely.
Susan and Wes' fathers hated each other. Here's how Doig describes Susan and Wes meeting for the first time since they were youngsters in Montana:
"But that was neither here nor there, the concern of the moment was to come up with enough manners to obscure those two grudges, older than themselves, that met at fence lines back in the Two Medicine country. Fortunately the occasion was running over with politeness, so she and he could simply extend a hand to each other and apply enough as needed. For public consumption one of the other of them murmured something to the effect that their families long had been acquainted--each would later tease the other for being so slick at watering it down that way--and that was the extent of it."
From the Ranch catalogue, internet
PIONEER CATTLEMAN IN MONTANA; THE STORY OF THE CIRCLE C RANCH Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1968. This is one of the author's few non-fiction works, presenting his own memories, a biography of his father (pioneer rancher Robert Coburn), and the men and events of the region they called a "cattlemen's paradise." Coburn (1889-1971) had every intention to be a cattleman like his father, but he was disabled in two accidents. When Coburn read a Western pulp story in Adventure Magazine, written by his Montana friend Robert Horton, Coburn recognized a story he had told Horton long ago. Coburn wrote Horton and asked him how he might become a writer. Horton wrote back very specifically--that Coburn should read Roget's Thesaurus, O.Henry, Jack London, and Joseph Conrad, live a story in his mind as he wrote it, never devise a plot beforehand, and never rewrite. Coburn took Horton's advice to heart and went on to become one of the most prolific writers of pulp Western fiction, earning the sobriquet "The Cowboy Author."
From Publishers Weekly
THE EXILE, by Richard Wheeler, Forge, 2003, 336 pages Wheeler's exemplary portrait of [Thomas Francis] Meagher depicts a flawed man whose dreams and schemes always fell short, but who never quit dreaming and never ran from his enemies. CASHBOX was written with the town of Castle as the background.
Thomas Francis Meagher, The Making of an Irish American
John M. Hearne, Waterford Institute of Technology, Rory T. Cornish, Winthrop University, South Carolina, Foreword by Roy Foster
Romantic Young Irelander,
republican revolutionary, father of the Irish tricolor and
political exile, Thomas Francis Meagher became a citizen of
the United States and a leading ethnic spokesman in his adopted
republic. The first commanding general of the famed Irish
Brigade during the American Civil War and post-war de-facto
governor of Montana Territory until his mysterious death in
1867, Meagher's career remains as controversial today as it
was during his own lifetime. One of the finest republican
orators of his day, Meagher has recently been honored by a
new heroic statue in the city of his birth, Waterford, Ireland.
In this new academic study scholars from three continents
fully chronicle the various aspects of Meagher's often colorful
and mercurial career. In tracing his ancestral origins from
the sixteenth century Irish midlands to his present day descendants
in California, this original study vividly portrays the Irish,
Australian and American influences on Meagher's career, a
career marked by frustrated hope and unfilled ambition. If
something of a glorious failure, Meagher helped shape the
destiny of his adopted republic and changed forever the perception
on the Irish in the New World. This monograph is an important
addition to nineteenth century trans-Atlantic community studies
and Irish studies generally.
Published by Irish Academic Press, this book will be out in the late summer.
The River's Edge, the love story of Elizabeth Townsend Meagher and Thomas Francis Meagher...by Lenore Puhek
