Mustang: The Saga of the Wild Horse in the American West [Hardcover]

Deanne Stillman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 9, 2008 | ISBN-10: 0618454454 | ISBN-13: 978-0618454457

An epic story that restores the horse to its rightful place in the history of the American West

Mustang is the sweeping story of the wild horse in the culture, history, and popular imagination of the American West. It follows the wild horse from its evolutionary origins on this continent to its return with the conquistadors to its bloody battles on the old frontier to its present plight as it fights for survival on the vanishing range.

Along the way, you meet some of the great characters -- equine and human alike -- in American history, including Comanche, the gallant horse that survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn; Charlie Joe, the intrepid cast member of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show; Fritz, the mustang that became America’s first equine movie star; and Bugz, the survivor of the 1998 wild horse massacre outside Reno, Nevada. There’s also Wild Horse Annie, who lobbied for the first federal protections for mustangs and, after a twenty-year fight, saw them signed into law in 1971.
In the tradition of Barry Lopez and Peter Matthiessen, Mustang follows the horse tracks across American history and shows that despite ever-encroaching civilization and dwindling protections, the horses still run wild, with spirit unbroken -- a living tableau of our heritage. But for how much longer, no one can say.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this epic history of wild horses, journalist and author Stillman (Twentynine Palms: A True Story of Murder, Marines, and the Mojave) traverses her longtime beat and passion, the American West, for a detailed look at 400 years of New World history. Many readers may be unaware of the mustang's precarious political situation or that, currently, "a bizarre war is underfoot" against them; Nixon's landmark 1971 legislation protecting free-roaming horses was recently undone by President Bush (who, as governor of Texas, "presided over two of the country's three remaining horse slaughterhouses"). Today, there remain fewer than 18,000 wild horses and burros in Nevada, their primary habitat, a number down by nearly 30 percent in the past ten years. Decades of roundups and slaughters can be traced to federal programs for livestock farmers, beginning with the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, which make land cheap, grazing regulations lax and wild horses an official nuisance. The story of these beautiful, symbolic animals is certain to evoke passionate reactions in many readers, especially history buffs, animal lovers, farmers and politicians.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

“[T]he horse is our great silent witness. … [H]e knows too much, and we can’t take it.” Though in the end, Stillman may not quite pierce the fog of horror that drives people to do evil deeds, she shines light on the history of the horse in America. The desert environment seems to bring a wonderful languid quality to her prose, and she manages to turn the horse into an equine Forrest Gump, present at all the major moments in the history of the American West. Some critics complained, however, that Stillman stretches the definition of mustang to include any horse west of the Mississippi. And while some reviewers preferred the sections on Custer and the cowboys, others favored her story about modern-day efforts to save the mustang. All agreed, though, that something ought to be done for these glorious animals that have done so much to move America.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (June 9, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618454454
• ISBN-13: 978-0618454457
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,129,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Long on passion, short on facts June 24, 2008

By Castle Mclaughlin

Format:Hardcover

As a wild horse researcher and advocate, I have mixed feelings about this book. Stillman writes with passion, and her lively style keeps the pace moving. I am encouraged that the book has brought national attention back to the plight of wild horses-and it is certainly time for an update of Hope Ryden's popular and intelligent 1970 book, America's Last Wild Horses. But I don't think this is that book. Stillman's inspiration for this project was the shocking wild horse shootings in Nevada, yet she uses that incident only to "bookend" the text, never really engaging with current attitudes or explaining such behavior. Instead, she gallops off into a re-hashing of western history from the perspective of horses, making a sweeping and unsupported case that every cowboy, Indian and cavalry horse of note were former wild horses/mustangs (by her own admission, she has a hard time appreciating any difference between wild and domestic horses, and this shows throughout). The main body of the book describes these general western contexts rather than wild horses and their histories per se, and too much space is devoted to topics like the Little Big Horn battle, which are not directly relevant and have been covered much better by others. Along the way she perpetuates misconceptions and down-right errors, such as claiming that immense wild herds developed from a few horses that strayed from Spanish explorers, Comanche, the famous Seventh Cavalry mount of Myles Keogh was one of many captured mustangs used by the U.S. Army, and that Plains Indians acquired most of their horses by capturing them wild-she even quotes a "horse taking song" in support of this idea, when it refers to the practice of taking horses from enemy camps (Plains peoples got most of their horses from trading and raiding, not "gathering"). She does not indicate her sources, and I have never seen or even heard of the "Mandan legend" about ice-age horses that she "quotes" from without attribution. These are just a few examples of her focus on the "saga" at the expense of research and experience, which is important because confidence in sources provides common ground for discussion and leads to informed understanding. Bottom line: this is a "feel good" book, meant to stir appreciation for horses, and judging from reviews, it has succeeded in that-at least among receptive readers who already love horses. For those with a background in wild horse issues, this book adds little new information or original thinking to the discussion. The average reader will find it a pleasurable, perhaps heart-warming and heart-breaking ride, but don't use this book as a reference for your next term paper.

Added Later: Yes, Stillman includes a good bibliography; sorry for the misunderstanding-I meant that there is no way to figure out the source of particular statements and interpretations, such as the passage bout the about the Mandan legend. Overall I am certainly supportive of this book; it is a well-written popular treatment of an important subject; but as a specialist on wild horses and North American ethnography, and as someone who teaches anthropology and writing to college students, I could not help but notice the issues that I mentioned.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, the truth about the history and saga of the wild horse June 4, 2008

By Patricia Miller Roth

Format:Hardcover

In writing "Mustang," Deanne Stillman has given us an amazing new view of American history--the one that was made by wild horses. I have waited for years to read a book like this, one that tells the true story about America's wild horses--from their origins to their fight for survival today. With stunning and dramatic prose, Stillman recounts the making of this country and the fighting of our early wars by way of the service of mustangs. This part of the book reaches its height with her masterful chapter about the Battle of the Little Bighorn and Comanche, the famous horse that survived it, and a visit to the horse cemetery on the battlefield. In the last section of her book, Stillman takes a look at what we are doing to the horses that have served us so well, as she follows them in another battle--the one in which they are now fighting for their own lives. We travel with her to Nevada for a heartbreaking round-up and to places across the West where wild horses have been hunted down and shot. She also takes you to where they are still running free, with manes and tails flying in the wind. After reading this beautifully written book, you will look at this country in a completely different way and want to get involved in the preservation of America's wild horses. In fact, you will feel an urgency to do so. By the way, a moving epilogue covers burros, which are protected under the same federal law that protects mustangs, and are also under siege. Book bonus: it has pictures!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Miss This one June 29, 2008

By Bababooey

Format:Hardcover

Wild horses have become a political football in Congress, with battles between those who want to protect them and those who are all too happy to eradicate them.

Senator Conrad Burns of Montana slipped a rider into a federal appropriations bill in 2004 which ended more than 30 years of federal protection for America's wild horses. Our fearless leader--yes, the one from Texas, of all places!--signed it into law, leading to approval to their slaughter for horse meat to be sold to foreign countries where it is still eaten.

Perhaps Senator Burns and his colleagues from states where the majority of these horses are held and who voted for this bill would think differently if they read this book.

The tragic story of the American wild horse comes to life in Stillman's beautifully written book. She traces the history from being heroes to being considered surplus to requirements.

When you think about the reverence of the horse in American literature and history, that it has come to this--that politicians from states whose fortunes were built on the back of these amazing animals are the ones who voted to destroy them--will make you ashamed to call yourself an American. It's no wonder the rest of the world thinks of us as the creators of the disposable society.