West's West

The Way to the West: Essays on the Central Plains by Elliott West (University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque. 1995. Pp. x, 244.) is enormously readable, entertaining and insightful. West approaches the history of the central plains through an inclusive methodology, masterfully incorporating environmental history, the zoological and botanical sciences, and anthropological scholarship into a concise narrative that feels both revolutionary and romantic: West cares deeply about his topic, an affection that shines through his prose, while simultaneously demonstrating that some of the “facts” we take for granted about the history of the west are in reality poorly informed and inaccurate.

Originally a series of lectures at the 1993 Calvin Horn Lectures on Western History and Culture at the University of New Mexico, West’s essays focus on four separate yet related aspects of the plains: Land, Animals, Families and Stories. Leading off with “Land”, West examines how Native Americans and westbound settlers each contributed to the deterioration of the plains ecosystems. Perhaps his strongest essay of the four, this is where West deploys environmental history and an understanding of plants and ecologies most effectively. Clearly having done his homework, he capably and deftly surveys the information before him, drawing convincing linkages and conclusions that appear difficult to dismiss, such as the assertion that Native Americans probably caused more harm to the land they depended on than the emigrants from the east, a sharp divergence from typical blame-the-white-people tropes.

His second essay, “Animals”, follows a similar approach to that employed in “Land”. West shows how the crowding of Native American tribes further and further west resulted in an increased reliance on the bison, the near-extinction of which is another tragedy often laid at the feet of westward bound Euro-Americans, and other fauna. He crunches the numbers, noting that there is no reasonable way that so many millions of bison could have died in so brief a period strictly from Indian and white hunting, offering an alternative scenario that plausibly explains the other forces likely at work. (One bone to pick: for all his thoroughness, West frequently refers to bison as “buffalo”. Diffen offers a side-by-side comparison of bison versus buffalo that is very helpful – for instance, buffalo do not have a hump and are only found in Africa and Asia – and that shows quite incontrovertibly that bison are not buffalo.)

West delves into the importance of families in his third essay, examining the relationships between families, community, society and survival in the west. West considers not only how one’s family influenced and shaped one throughout one’s lifetime, but also how families shaped the communities and towns western emigrants erected. He also considers how the plains and western culture reshaped some ideas of family, demonstrating that influence flows both ways.

West concludes with “Stories”, looking at the varied ways that the west is portrayed in films, literature, and even in our own memories. It is an essay quite different from the previous three, but a necessary one. I believe it is important that historians understand how we as humans, both individually and collectively, use history, how it affects and shapes us, and how our imperfect memories still give history meaning in our lives and culture. Concluding his book with such a discussion, West gives us a number of thought-provoking nuggets to chew on, including our assumptions that the west is devoid of history (never mind the thousands of years of aboriginal culture predating the European invasion) and free from eastern corruption and history (we simply brought that with us).

In all, a deceptively easy to read work with some hard-hitting, new evidence and assertions to offer the historiography of the west.