The American West in the twentieth century

¶ … Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West by Timothy Egan. Specifically, it will contain an application and analysis of revisionist theory in the book, and Egan's perspective of the "New West." Revisionist theory is any theory that relies on alternative information to devise alternative theories to history and historical happenings. For example, the revisionist's theory of the Holocaust is that it did not occur. Revisionist theory abounds in Egan's book "Lasso the Wind," as he travels around the west and discovers a lifestyle and outlook far different from the settlers of the Old West, who came to create better lives for themselves in a land rich with minerals, farmlands, and resources.

Most people have a romantic or romanticized view of the West. It was settled by homesteaders or gold miners looking for a better life, they brought the land to life, and the rest is history. Egan's view of the New West is far different, a revisionist theory to the romantic view. His West consists of statements such as "I had heard to many lies about the 'Real West,' flimflam and fraud retold as gilded narrative by people whose grandparents took the land by force and have been draining the public trough ever since to keep it locked in a peculiar time warp in history" (Egan 4). Egan's main thesis is that the West is no longer about what is possible and what can be done with the land, the sky, and the water, but today it is all about possession, and who owns the land, the sky, and the water. This is evident in many of the chapters of "Lasso the West," which each look at a different area, but come back to the same main conclusion - the West may be a state of mind, but in each state, it is the rich, the powerful, and the landowners who decide just what gets done and who does it. Egan notes these powerful individuals have "tried to tame it, shave it, fence it, cut it, dam it, drain it, nuke it, poison it, pave it, and subdivide it" (Egan 6). Thus, Egan's view of the West is revisionist for a number of reasons, and raises the hackles of many Westerners for just as many.

There are many different types of people who inhabit the West, from displaced Native Americans to rich Hollywood moguls who flock to the backcountry for rest and relaxation. There are rich people, poor people, and what Egan calls the members of the "Wacko West," who may have the most revisionist thinking of anyone in the book. These are the people like Ted Kosinski, (the Unabomber), who hold up in Montana cabins building pipe bombs, and are convinced the government, or the UFOs, are out to get them. Egan writes, "Fearing for their lives, Forest Service rangers [in Catron County, New Mexico] have been ordered to travel in pairs, and never to be out of radio contact" (Egan 17). Clearly, the West is full of revisionist thinkers, and Egan's thesis and beliefs fit into the area perfectly. The West, and the people in it, often pride themselves on their independent spirit and sense of freedom, so it could be where revisionist thought first developed, for good or bad.

The history of the West is filled with takeovers from one century to the next. First, it was the Spaniards wrestling the area away from the Native Americans and Mexicans. Later it was the trappers who first traversed the area, and paved the way for a westward rush of Easterners looking for a better life. They displaced the Native Americans and the wildlife with little regard for either. They sent the Spaniards packing in California and the Southwest. Today, it is the New Westerners, who populate big cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, taking over the water resources from states up and down the Colorado (and other) rivers to water their desert landscapes in an arid area not meant for green lawns and golf courses. and, it is the Hispanics, taking back areas that had been Spanish long before they were Anglo. Each generation has taken something from the last, and this is part of Egan's thesis. How much can the West take, before a generation stops to think, and to give back? Will anyone give back to the West, or will generations just keep using it up until it literally runs dry? Egan does not do all of the readers' thinking for them, but he does point to several theories, and they are all alternatives to what many people in the West believe. Many residents of the West think because they live there, it is their long-term right to use up the land and water resources, it is the "way" of the West. It is clear that Egan does not subscribe to the theory of damming rivers such as the Colorado to provide cities downstream with water. He quotes another writer who says damming the Colorado at Glen Canyon was "the most tragic act of federal vandalism to befall the American West'" (Egan 59). Clearly, the West is steeped in much more controversy than many people know or understand, and much of that controversy stems from stewardship and use of the land. Egan's revisionist theory simply blends in with the controversies swirling about the West. People do not agree here, and that is why so many theories and controversies abound.

Egan's theories about the West are clear, and his feelings are clear, too. This is not an unbiased look at the West, it is a perspective from someone who lives in the West and loves it. Egan can see the many convoluted and passionate ideals that make up the West, from the young cattle rancher in New Mexico who fights the government for what he believes are his God-given rights to the land, to the his Yuppie family camping in the Bitterroots with marinated salmon and fine merlot. These are just some of the extremes that have to make a life together in the West, and it is no wonder there are so many ideas and theories about the West and its unique philosophy. A New Mexico rancher's theories are far different from a Berkeley PhD's theories, but they all must somehow form a whole in the West. That is why Egan's revisionist theories do not really seem so revisionist. It is clear that his idea of the Wacko West is not the same as his idea of the natural West. It is clear that his idea of how man utilizes the West is far from what man is currently doing in the West. However, while his book is certainly a look at alternative thoughts and theories, it is also a compelling history of the land that has become the West, along with some ideas about how such a diversified and unique population took hold in the first place. If Egan's theories are revisionist and even repellent to some, there is no better place for them than the West, because here, everyone fits in, from farm worker to ex-Presidents.

While many of Egan's ideas may not be popular with the current population of western states, no one disputes the beauty and grandeur of the American West. Egan often captures this beauty in his writing, and it is clear he loves the area he writes so passionately about. In one chapter he writes, "On the longest day of the year I want sunlight that follows me to bed and mountains without winter" (Egan 166). This is the legacy of the West. It is a land of many contrasts and controversies. It is a land where revisionist thinking becomes normal everyday thinking, and normal everyday thinking is seen as subversive and frightening.