Who Owns the West? [Paperback]

William Kittredge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1996

Literary Nonfiction. "WHO OWNS THE WEST? asks the important question that is at the heart of the change transforming the region, and no one is better prepared to lead this discussion than William Kittredge"—The Bloomsbury Review.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The once-remote interior of the American West is changing, noted author William Kittredge writes, filling with tourists and new settlers, yielding "a time of profound transition, which can be thought of as a second colonization." The West of myth, the place of Shanelike loners such as Kittredge's father who carved out a farm from a pocket of southeast Oregon bottomland, must, he argues, give way to a new generation of Westerners who love the land and its possibilities. Kittredge populates his pages with fellow dreamers, writers like Raymond Carver and Richard Hugo, old neighbors, and newcomers, all of whom contribute to Westerners' "working to locate ourselves amid the clutter." This is a striking, constantly interesting attempt at envisioning one's home country in the midst of change.

From Publishers Weekly

Westerners have always had the difficult job of fulfilling the American dream of escape. But at what cost? Those arid stretches of desert and snow-peaked mountain ranges entail responsibilities forgotten long ago on the coasts and in the Midwest, or so Kittredge (Hole in the Sky) might argue. The West is our largest and our last natural resource. As their timber and wildlife dwindle at alarming rates, Westerners have been forced to negotiate razor-sharp moral and ethical high-wires. This balancing act playing out across social and economic classes is what defines the new West-not the encroaching geography of strip malls and coffee bars. Kittredge's meditation portrays the awkward lives of everyday people-writers, hunters, ranchers-who believe that if they gain even the smallest grip on their personal histories, they may regain some piece of their horribly depleted lands. Raymond Carver, depicted here in the brave last months of his life, proves a fitting metaphor. He fled west from cancer, hoping for another in what had been a fortunate series of fresh starts after he combatted and finally beat alcoholism. Like Carver at his best, Kittredge composes a prose well suited to "a story that encourages us to understand that the living world cannot be replicated."
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Mercury House; 1st edition (February 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1562790781
• ISBN-13: 978-1562790783
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,855 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The West can be a personal story, March 13, 2004

By 

Philip Carl "EcoAngler" (Half Moon Bay, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Who Owns the West? (Paperback)

In Who Owns the West, William Kittredge takes us on an emotional, often thought provoking ride of his intimate encounters with landscapes, friends, family, and fellow writers of the Western United States. His thoughts and reflections are often framed around what is our relationship with the land and one another.

The book spans both the time and distance axes of Kittredge's life. Running from his childhood experiences on the family ranch outside of Klamath Falls, Oregon to his current residence in Missoula. Insights and connections to place come in the expected places and forms (e.g., fellow established writers) to some not so expected such as small, dark taverns frequented by folk who speak their mind and get more passionate with each drink. The author excels at describing a "West" that is unique, personal, and still defining its character.

Kittredge writes in closing how each of us embody a story whether we know it or not. A screenplay that is essentially our life story exists, and the ultimate question is whether we are writing it or only acting out someone else's story. The answer to the larger question of "Who Owns the West?" is we all do. And if you love the West, as Kittredge does, you'll draft a story of compassion and empathy for both the land and the life that inhabits this special place.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kittredge like Miller, June 29, 2008

By 

Wellford Wilms "Buzz" (Topanga) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Who Owns the West? (Paperback)

My hand landed on "Who Owns the West" seemingly by accident. Buddhists say that teachers appear when you are ready - maybe that's what happened here. it's an amazing book that is beautifully written. Kittredge was ahead of his time - writing in 1996 about social and economic dislocations in the west. Though Kittredge was writing about the west and the dislocations from the Native Americans to the loggers, miners and cowboys, and the wreckage of the environment - it is a metaphor for today. I'm left with the same feeling that I had when I read Henry Miller's "Colossus of Maroussi" in the 1960s. "Who Owns the West" is a grand sweep of life and Kittredge is an unusually gifted story-teller and analyst.