The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory

Looking West: The Civil War and Reconstruction in Indian Territory This collection of eight essays and the editor’s “Introduction aims at what few books on the Civil War attempt: it deals with the Civil War west of the Mississippi. In addition, the slim volume focuses o...

Westward Expansion

Review of: Westward Expansion. Quay, Sara E

Tom Benton and His Drawings: A Biographical Essa)\u27 and a Collection of His Sketches, Studies, and Mural Cartoons

This volume, which reproduces about two hundred of Thomas Hart Benton\u27s more than two thousand works, is a valuable scholarly study as well as a handsomely produced book about one of the modern West\u27s most significant artists. As such, it avoids the major limitation of many recent works on western art in which academic excellence is sacrificed to the larger-and less notable-aim of producing a visually appealing book with sales potential

Westward Expansion

Review of: Westward Expansion. Quay, Sara E

Review of Edmund Morris: Frontier Artist By Jean S. McGill and Land of Earth and Sky: Landscape Painting of Western Canada By Ronald Rees

In a brief, narrative biography of Edmund Morris, a Canadian artist of landscapes and Indians, Jean McGill describes the major events of his life and carrer. She is particularly factual in treating his educational experiences, his family and friends, and his varied, numerous paintings. Sometimes, however, these sections are little more than listings. Indeed, th~ unanalytical quality of this book is its major limitation. Often quoting the opinions of others, the author seems hesitant-almost unable-to put forth her critical reactions to Morris\u27s life and works. Instead of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the paintings noted, she includes extensive commentaries from newspaper and other art critics

Review of \u3ci\u3eBilly the Kid: His Life and Legend\u3c/i\u3e By Jon Tuska

Jon Tuska is a leading authority on Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War. In fact, in the opening chapter of this reprinted book (originally published by Greenwood Press in 1994), Tuska exhibits his tenacious pursuit of nearly every fact about these much-researched subjects. This one-hundred-page section, illustrating Tuska\u27s diligence, will be particularly useful to all specialists and general readers. Unfortunately, however, the author\u27s flawed approach to his subject seriously limits the book\u27s overall value. Most of all, T uska attempts to provide a sound historical chronology of the major events of Billy the Kid\u27s life and the Lincoln County War, a goal he accomplishes in the initial biographical/historical section. Readers can depend on the facts Tuska provides. Also useful are the author\u27s plot summaries of dozens of novels, stories, and films dealing with Billy and the conflict in New Mexico. Tuska knows this factual information well; Billy the Kid can serve as something of a handbook about these subjects. Readers will also benefit from other elements of Tuska\u27s volume. The ten-page chronology detailing events in New Mexico during the 1870s and early 1880s is immensely helpful. So are the author\u27s bibliographical listings at the end of chapters discussing historical- biographical, fictional, cinematic, and legendary subjects. Along the way, Tuska also helpfully mentions people, events, and other topics that merit further research. But major flaws limit the book\u27s contribution. To his detriment, Tuska is driven to attack other writers rather than merely to correct their mistakes or quarrel with their interpretations. He seems convinced that pointing out the weaknesses of other books will strengthen his study. Largely untrue. Although noting the factual mistakes in the pioneering volume by Pat Garrett/Ash Upson, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid (1882), and in Walter Noble Burns\u27s The Saga of Billy the Kid (1926) is useful service, Tuska\u27s pummeling assaults on the scholarship of Henry Nash Smith, Stephen Tatum, John Cawelti, and Robert M. Utley are unnecessary-and usually unwarranted. Tuska is especially negative about Utley\u27s three books, but most of the criticisms revolve around differences of opinion rather than mistakes. Ironically, too, Tuska is guilty of several of the mistakes he attributes to others: misuse of original sources, inadequate research, and explicit prejudice and bias. Generally, Tuska misunderstands or underappreciates the artistry of biographers, historians, novelists, and filmmakers. Too often following the misguided approach of Ramon F. Adams, Tuska dismisses or harshly criticizes major works of scholarship if they contain factual errors. Quite possibly Tuska has a blind eye and a tin ear for dramatic narrative. Most of all, one wishes he would devote his splendid energies and obvious hard work to writing first-rate historical works rather than squandering them on harpooning other writers. In short, Jon Tuska knows a great deal about Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War. His factual accounts of these topics can be trusted. But usually his opinions about and interpretations of other works should be skipped over. The enemies of extreme bias, skewed logic, and unnecessary negativity lurk there

Review of Rethinking Regionalism: John Steuart Curry and the Kansas Mural Controversy and Grant Wood: A Study in American Art and Culture.

In the first of these two volumes, M. Sue Kendall treats the cultural contexts that helped shape the paintings of John Steuart Curry and sparked reactions to his murals at the Kansas statehouse in Topeka. Emphasizing the details of Curry\u27s life and how they interlocked with national, historical, and political happenings between 1937 and 1942, Kendall focuses particularly on the ideological and cultural attitudes that embroiled Curry, newspaper editors, and thousands of Kansans in the mural controversy