In my life as a book reviewer for the Western Writers, I continually receive books which is a fact that’s probably not interesting to anyone else. The reason it’s mentioned here is that I’ll look at some of them this week instead of writing the usual article. The editor of the magazine I write for doesn’t send many of the rootin’ shootin’ type of Westerns, but usually sends the “meaty” variety that deal with social values and environmental concerns in the West. Recent titles received include “Basque Immigrants and Nevada’s Sheep Industry,” “Same River Twice: The Politics of Dam Removal and River Restoration,” and “Land of Nuclear Enchantment: A New Mexican History of the Nuclear Weapons Industry.”
Johnny, the editor didn’t know who to hand the Basque story to but then remembered I’d been raised around sheep, therefore I’d probably be interested. Well, yes, I liked sheep, but it sealed the deal for him when I said I’d eaten once at the Basque cafe in Elko, Nevada. So I immediately became his resident “expert.” From my reading of history, I’ve known of the Basque separatist movement, those sometimes bloody actions where the Basques have tried to extricate themselves from Spanish rule and operate as an independent country. So far Spain has retained control of the Basque region, but it’s an ongoing struggle which has caused some to migrate to this country.
If my memory is correct, I believe a Basque herder came into the government pasture in the sandhills not so many years ago and tended a flock of sheep to control leafy spurge in the hard to reach grazing areas. When Basques started immigrating here they were attracted to the wide open spaces and presently show the largest concentrations in the states of California, Nevada, and Idaho. State-by-state, they are represented nationwide and a recent map shows North Dakota counting 39 Basques.
“The Land of Nuclear Enchantment” brings back memories aside from the book’s narrative. When they were testing A-bombs left and right in the 1950s, scientists came up with a way of measuring the radioactivity in the air telling us that its pollution was drifting across the country. Being a young lad, I remember being quite disturbed by it all. Some years later the Cuban Missile Crisis again shattered any feelings of complacency and scared the daylights out of this impressionable soul.
News of uranium mining in the southwest filled the news and how necessary the mineral was to the manufacture of atomic weapons. The book at hand concentrates on the upheaval the nuclear weapons industry brought to the state of New Mexico. A blurb accompanying the book states “The history of nuclear energy in New Mexico is filled with dangers, secrets, ironies, and both positive and terrible consequence to the state and its native population.”
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the leader of the atomic weapon research team issued a stunning quote from an ancient text to describe the first atomic blast: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Supporters of continued research and development of the nuclear industry still argue that the rewards are worth the risk.
The subtitle of “Same River Twice” states the book is about the politics of dam removal and river restoration. About the same time I opened it, I ran into a quote from the famous environmentalist Rachel Carson. “Your generation must come to terms with the environment. You must face realities instead of taking refuge in ignorance and evasion of truth.”
In the words of an organization called “American Rivers,” they say, “While dams can benefit society, they also cause considerable harm to rivers. Dams have depleted fisheries, degraded river ecosystems, and altered recreational opportunities on nearly all of our nation’s rivers. Today, many dams that were once at the epicenter of a community’s livelihood are now old, unsafe or no longer serving their intended purposes.
For instance they reported California in 2018 removed 35 dams. I look forward to getting into the meat of the the book.
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None of the three books I’ve mentioned is a review but merely impressions of them as I prepare to read and think about them further. One other book was not sent to me for review, but is instead one I bought and today should be mentioned. The subject of The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett deals with the building of a cathedral during the same time period as the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. As the fire destroyed the cathedral, I was immediately reminded of Follett’s book. It tells of craftsmen in the middle-ages building a similar structure without the use of any power tools or equipment. It’s high on my list of favorites, and is not just about shaping rocks and putting them into place. There is plenty of drama surrounding it what with births, deaths, loves, murders, and much more.
lynn.bueling@gmail.com
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