THE ENGLISH WESTERNERS' SOCIETY
OCTOBER 2018 BOOK REVIEW
This review first appeared in the Tally Sheet (Spring 2017, Volume 63, Number 2)
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HEROES WITHOUT GLORY – Some Good Men of the Old West
This reprint
of a 1965 book by Jack Schaefer (author of
Shane) is a collection of mini
life stories - biographies of twelve men who settled in the West and who are
called ‘good men’ by Schaefer to support the contention that their lives are
more interesting and exciting than the over publicised notorious baddies. One
cannot help but feel that he’s right and that these champions have indeed
deserved better. If there is a general perception of good men being in any way
dull, this will change your mind. A balance is provided with the characters who
are so well documented.
Schaefer has
chosen James Adams (Grizzly Adams, hunting bears in California’s Sierras);
George Ruxton (the Englishman who found the Mountain Men and became one); John
Thompson (the postman who travelled hundreds of miles in severe weather); John
Phillips (who rode through harsh winter weather through the Sioux nation to
report the Fetterman massacre); Washakie (the wise Shoshone warrior statesman);
John Chisum (legendary cowboy of the Pecos); Thomas Smith (the lawman who tamed
Abilene, Kansas without firing a gun); Valentine McGillycuddy (decent and honest
doctor hero of the Pine Ridge reservation); Charles Gardiner (Rocky Mountain
doctor with a big lonely territory); Elfrego Bacon (Socorro, New Mexico peace
officer, an A1 of the Southwest, who tamed and put fear into ruthless outlaws);
Adolphe Bandelier(pioneer of American anthropology in the Southwest); and John
Langrishe (talented actor who gave up a lucrative career in the East to become a
beloved performer on the frontier). They all accepted much with courage and
foresight as they built their lives in the West, often in remote regions, and
battling forbidding climates and landscapes.
There is no
index, bibliography or photos, but no matter: Schaefer was a born storyteller.
This refreshing and lyrical book, which includes some apt rhetorical
embellishments and flourishes, is a page-turner.
Raymond Cox
Copyright © 2018 English Westerners' Society
