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How Myth Became History: Texas Exceptionalism in the Borderlands by John E. Dean (review)

How Myth Became History: Texas Exceptionalism in the Borderlands by John E. Dean (review) 2009 Article 445 Book Reviews Nancy Baker Jones, Editor How Myth Became Histor y: Texas Exceptionalism in the Borderlands. By John E. Dean. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2016. Pp. 231. Timeline, notes, bibliography, index.) How Myth Became History ably demonstrates that literature can help us conceptualize the complex cultural identities embedded in the human past of this contested land. Texas and its exceptionalist mythology reside near the center of this volume, allowing Dean to assess American imperial- istic attitudes and beliefs toward Mexico, while in turn exploring the views embraced by ethnic Mexicans through their own many-sided experiences. Ultimately, the author’s penetrating inquiry challenges the historicity of what he calls “the archive,” a kind of standard script represented in tra- ditional U.S. histories that covers the period from Texas independence through the Mexican Revolution. After framing his approach and examining the antagonistic cultural memories that collide on the border as represented in Walter Prescott Webb’s The Texas Rangers, Américo Paredes’s George Washington Gómez, and Rolando Hinojosa’s The Valley, the author presents five thematic chapters. Each one revolves around a well-known work of fiction: Yankee Invasion by Ignacio Solares; Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy; Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes; http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Southwestern Historical Quarterly Southwest Center (Univ of Arizona)

How Myth Became History: Texas Exceptionalism in the Borderlands by John E. Dean (review)

Southwestern Historical Quarterly , Volume 121 (4) – Mar 28, 2018

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Publisher
Southwest Center (Univ of Arizona)
Copyright
Copyright © The Texas State Historical Association.
ISSN
0038-478x
eISSN
1558-9560

Abstract

2009 Article 445 Book Reviews Nancy Baker Jones, Editor How Myth Became Histor y: Texas Exceptionalism in the Borderlands. By John E. Dean. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2016. Pp. 231. Timeline, notes, bibliography, index.) How Myth Became History ably demonstrates that literature can help us conceptualize the complex cultural identities embedded in the human past of this contested land. Texas and its exceptionalist mythology reside near the center of this volume, allowing Dean to assess American imperial- istic attitudes and beliefs toward Mexico, while in turn exploring the views embraced by ethnic Mexicans through their own many-sided experiences. Ultimately, the author’s penetrating inquiry challenges the historicity of what he calls “the archive,” a kind of standard script represented in tra- ditional U.S. histories that covers the period from Texas independence through the Mexican Revolution. After framing his approach and examining the antagonistic cultural memories that collide on the border as represented in Walter Prescott Webb’s The Texas Rangers, Américo Paredes’s George Washington Gómez, and Rolando Hinojosa’s The Valley, the author presents five thematic chapters. Each one revolves around a well-known work of fiction: Yankee Invasion by Ignacio Solares; Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy; Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes;

Journal

Southwestern Historical QuarterlySouthwest Center (Univ of Arizona)

Published: Mar 28, 2018

There are no references for this article.