Josephy Abstracts
Alvin Josephy writes for the press
Over his long career, in addition to the many books, chapters in books, and introductions and forewords to books written by others, Alvin wrote scores of articles for newspapers, magazines, and journals from the New York Times to Idaho Yesterdays. It is our intent to provide abstracts--brief summaries--of these pieces in digital form so that readers can gain a quick idea of their content. We cannot guarantee that we have all of Alvin's writing in hand--chances of that are slim, especially if we get into the many dispatches he did as a Marine correspondent. But we are interested in everything, and will appreciate the help of others in doing this work. If you have something or find something written by Alvin, please let us know and we will compare notes! Also, if a complete article is already available in digital format, please let me know that as well. We might do some digitizing ourselves (with issues of copyright in mind).
(The Abstracts will appear chronicollogically, by the date of their publication, as we do them).
American West, November-December 1986, page 44-52. “Looking for Finegayan: A Marine Returns to Guam.”
Josephy explores his “ambivalent relationship” with Guam. In 1944, he served as marine sergeant at war with the Japanese to gain control of the island. Since then, Guam has lived contradictorily in his memory, at once a “hell hole of tensions, but also a place of villages “aflame with hibiscus.”
In this account of his return trip, Josephy finds neither the vivid paradise or hell of his adrenaline-filled memories: “Nothing was familiar; nothing was recognizable.” Many of the historic battles sites remain “unmarked and without trails.” Fineyagan, the hamlet at the epicenter of his memory, is wiped-out altogether. On this trip, Josephy realizes the importance of war tributes on memory. (Abstract by Christina Ammon)
American West, September-October 1982, page 64. “One Way to Spell Man: Essays with a Western Bias.”
n his review of Wallace Stegner’s book, One Way to Spell Man: Essays with a Western Bias, Josephy seizes the occasion to protest the “Western writer” stereotype too frequently assigned to Stegner. “The truth,” Josephy writes, “is that despite the national recognition that has been accorded Stegner on many occasions, he is still too often and thoughtlessly pigeonholed as part of a subculture or, even worse, as not in the mainstream and therefore someone less than the major contemporary literary figure that he is.” Josephy insists that writer’s emphasis on living in harmony with nature and his calls for moderation, humanity and truth are too important to be undermined by the limiting label of “regional writer.” “Stegner speaks of and for all Americans,” Josephy declares. (Abstract by Christina Ammon)
The American West, Vol IX, No. 5, September 1972, page 5-11, 61-64. “By Fayre and Gentle Means.”
Like modern day “Fair Trade” practices, the Hudson Bay’s Company set standards for “humane and principled dealings” with the native fur trappers in British-controlled North America. Josephy notes that the HBC exhibited an “unusual degree of self-discipline” in setting prices, avoiding conflict, and prohibiting alcohol as an item of trade. But, in time, increased competition from other companies caused HBC’s quality trade items--Brazil tobacco and blankets—to lose their lure with the tribes. Eventually, the company resorted to “the ultimate, and most reprehensible, lure of the fur trade”: alcohol.
Josephy points out that much of the HBC’s “goodwill” was rooted in the interest of profit. Though many HBC workers took genuine interest in the natives and their lifeways, the overall effect of the fur trade during its 1670-1870 heyday was destructive to the tribes—whether from overt racism to collateral side effects such as introduction of epidemic diseases such as small pox and measles. (Abstract by Christina Ammon)
American West, Vol XXII, No. 4, July/August 1985, page 30-37. “Those Pants: From workmen’s duds to jet-set chic.”
In this article, Josephy traces the evolution of Levi Strauss jeans from a functional work pant to high fashion. A German-Jewish immigrant, Levi Strauss set up his shop in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. His jeans were initially distributed only to Western states where miners, cowboys, teamsters and the like prized them for their durability, heavy fabric and signature rivets. Later, the pants became a staple of campus fashion symbolizing “rebellion, freedom, and individuality.” Ultimately, the jeans became sought after “in almost every country in the world.” Despite their cosmopolitan lure, the jeans remained an icon of the West and one of America’s great contributions to the world. (Abstract by Christina Ammon)
American West, November/December 1982, pages 32-40. “Whose Old West is Disappearing?”
What is the Old West? In this essay, Josephy determines that the “Old West” is a fluid concept, continually redefined by people in relation to the “stages in the history and development of a West with which they were familiar.” From the fur trappers, buffalo, and “fenceless plains” to the introduction of rail lines, roads, towns, miners, missionaries, cattle and cowboys, the West has always been in flux. “In each generation,” Josephy writes, “an Old West disappeared, and something new, not always appealing to the survivors, took its place.”
What does remain consistent about the West? The quality of open space, its hardscrabble inhabitants, and the perennial resource conflicts. Josephy closes the article with an exclamation: "The West is dead? Never! Long live the West!”(Abstract by Christina Ammon)
The Critic, Vol XXXII, No. 1, September-October 1973, pages 18-27. "Freedom for the American Indian.
Josephy summarizes Indian-White relations since earliest contact. "Until 1890, it was one of assimilate or die,,, since then..., it has been assimilate or stagnate in poverty." He reminds readers of contractual relationships of treaties–Indians gave up their land but were guaranteed education, health, and other services. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 required identical governing structures on all reservations, but in fact left final decision making with the Bureau of Indian affairs. Josephy’s recommendations: 1. Allow each tribe to develop own local government; 2. make the BIA a service rather than a governing agency; and 3. create a new agency within Federal Government to carry out trustee functions.
American West, Vol XX, No. 3. May-June 1983. Pages 31-37. "The Blood of Abel: Murder most foul and justice most swift in frontier Idaho."
A retelling of the story of the murder of Lloyd Magruder at what to this day is known as "Magruder Mountain" in old Nez Perce country, 50 miles east of Elk City, Idaho. In October of 1863, Magruder, a miner turned successful merchant, was traveling back to Lewiston from a successful sales trip to Montana when he and his helpers were brutally murdered. What sets the story apart is that Lewiston hotel keeper Hill Beachy takes it on himself to apprehend the killers–which he does in San Francisco–and bring them back to trial and justice in Idaho.
American West, Vol XXIII, No. 1. January-February 1986. Pages 42-45. "Andy Warhol meets Sitting Bull"
Alvin and Andy Warhol are on their way to a storage warehouse of New York's Museum of the American Indian, where Warhol will shoot Polaroid photos of Indian artifacts for a "Cowboys and Indians" portfolio; he will sell 250 copies at $15,000 each. "What kind of a statement do you have in mind with this portfolio--what do you want to say about the West or about Indians?" Josephy asks. Warhol is briefly stumped, says finally that "we're just trying to remind people that Indians were around." Alvin doesn't let him off the hook, asks if he knew that Sitting Bull had been murdered. No, he didn't. Alvin ruminates on his own trip to the murder site and the Indian holy man who was murdered because he was a "menace to White man's values."