Devi'ls Gate reviews

DEVIL’S GATE: Owning the Land, Owning the Story, by Tom Rea, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006), 307pp., $26.95 hb.

            In his introduction to Devil’s Gate, Tom Rea reiterates an historical truism: the stories told by the victors get institutionalized while those told by the survivors are pushed to the margins.  In order to better understand the stories of the latter, Rea decides to “look at a small part of the West where many interesting things have happened” (p. 6). Thus while Devil’s Gate is manifestly a history of the middle of Wyoming along the Sweetwater River, its themes of native/newcomer relations, colonialism, and contested histories are emblematic of the West as a whole.
              
            Beginning with a brief history of the northern plains tribes, Rea touches on many of the West’s most important stories: Frémont’ s expeditions; Mormon conflicts; railroad expansion; Indian wars; and fencing the range.  By bringing some fascinating detail into his narrative, however, he covers such extensive ground without falling into simple caricatures. This highly readable synthesis therefore, could be used very effectively in undergraduate classrooms.  In one particularly interesting passage, for example, Rea describes the delicate procedure Frémont followed in order to take a barometer reading, reminding us that even colonial projects as institutionalized as surveying were reliant upon such human elements as steady hands.

            While Rea frequently gestures towards academic arguments, the book is intended for a general audience and as such, he does not pursue his thesis as rigorously as he might were this written for an academic audience. Thus, while the theme “owning the land, owning the story” has much potential, Rea uses it mostly as a narrative hook. It is not until the final pages of the book, in fact, that it becomes clear who does own the land and thus the story—the Mormons.  Their particular story, however, is just one that takes place in the region and Rea does an admirable job synthesizing many of these stories into a cohesive narrative.

DAVID BERNSTEIN
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Journal of the West, Manhattan, KS, July 2007