tention, then ethical law can have norncredibility or authority’ for the reallv “liberated”rnindividual, whether he stylesrnhimself a “left” radical or a “right” libertarian.rnThis view proposes or entails arn”deification of the individual,” rooted inrnthe “extravagant claims for the powers ofrnthe individual that we find in Emerson,rnThoreau, and Whitman.” Left or right,rnthe modern American often has anrn”Emersonian detachment from awarenessrnof our conditioned state,” as well asrna concomitant contempt for ethics. Hernlives in and promotes what C.S. Lewisrncalled “a world of incessant autobiography.”rnYet in the academy, now largely influencedrnby the Paris Deconstructionists,rnsuch radical voluntarism often sharesrnthe same cranial cavities yvith deterministrnideas that deny any human agency orrnfree yvill, seeing us all as puppets of gender,rnrace, class, and an authoritarian “logoccntrism,”rna contradictory conjunctionrnthat Anderson opposes.rnThough essentially a yvork of literaryrnand cultural history. Making Americans isrna tribute to the moral imagination. It isrnalso a book written out of love and loyaltvrnto our turbulent and tattered Republic.rnMichael D. Aeschliman is the author ofrnThe Restitution of Man: C.S. Lewisrnand the Case Against Scientism.rnLonesome No Morernbv Gregory McNameernStreets of Laredornby Larry McMurtryrnNew York: Simon &’ Schuster,rn864 pp., $25.00rnAll literary genres have their loyalists,rnbut few have more devoted—andrnquerulous—readers than the Western.rnSo when in the mid-I980’s rumors beganrnto circulate that Larry McMurtry,rnhitherto known for his angst-ridden talesrnof modern Texas, was at work on an epicrnoater, shoot-’em-up fans began lookingrnfor a noose, sure that the bespectacledrnbelletrist yvould revise their Old Westrnout of existence. He did; but Mc-rnMurtrv’s Lonesome Dove went on to becomernone of the best-selling Westerns ofrnrecent times. Of course, diehard oatereatersrnhad their day yvith it; they evenrnconvened a special panel at the 1985rnWestern Historical Association conventionrnto squabble over yvhy the mockheroicrncoyvboys who populate the novelrnneeded to drive their cattle all the yvav tornMontana yvhen they yvould have hit arnstockyard-bound railroad line in southernrnKansas. In Lonesome Dove McMurtryrntook pains to strip ayvay the legendaryrnWest, to discover a regionrnplagued by genocide, random violence,rnfailure, and frustrated dreams, a Westrnyvhere manv lose yvhile feyv gain, yvherernpeople travel far to go noyvhere.rnSequels never quite match up to theirrnprogenitors, and McMurtry’s Streets ofrnLaredo is no exception. Partly, this isrnthe inescapable result of its setting.rnTexas has quieted down since the hellraisingrndays of Augustus McCrac andrnWoodrow Call. In Lonesome Dove, thernprotagonists yvere retired from the TexasrnRangers and happily settled into a life ofrnhard drinking and cattle rustling, endingrnwith McCrae’s death far from home.rnThe second book finds the fast-agingrnCall at loose ends, adrift in the place hernhelped settle. His friend, the historicalrnfigure Chades Coodnight, describes thernsituation, remarking of his ranchhands:rnThe cowboys yvore guns from wistfulness..rn. . They yvanted to feelrnthat thcv yvere living in a Westrnthat was still wild. It was harmlessrnnostalgia, for the most part; asrnlong as thev didn’t injure themselvesrnor the livestock, he put nornstrictures on their use of firearms.rnBut the Panhandle was nornlonger the wild West—not by arnlong shot. The coyvboys couldrnplay or posture all thcv wanted to,rnadjusting their holsters and practicingrnfast drayvs. The fact was,rnthey yvere herdsmen, not gunfighters,rnand it would be colossalrnbad luck if their herding everrnbrought them into contact yvith arnreal killer, of the sort that hadrnonce been common in the West.rnSuch psychopathic killers may haverndyvindled in number, but the deeds ofrnone of them helps to propel Streets ofrnLaredo. Across the border in Mexico, arnteenager named Joey Carza has discoveredrnthat he enjoys yvasting most of thernpeople who cross his path. Had hernstayed put in Ojinaga, the good gringosrnacross the way yvould not have mindedrnthis antisocial behavior, but Joey has takenrnto crossing the line, killing yvhole trainrncreyvs, and felling innocent men with arnlong-range rifle just for the pleasure ofrnpracticing his aim. In one particuladyrngruesome scene, the handido slaughtersrna hapless cowboy and deposits choicernbits of the buckaroo’s body atop the sheriff’srndesk in the nearby Presidio jail, inchesrnfrom the snoring lawman. WhenrnGarza unites yvith the racist bandit JohnrnWesley Hardin, it is only out of expediency;rntheir common front will earn himrnenough money to return to Mexico, livernin high style, and mutilate his neighborsrnwhenever the fancy strikes.rnPsycho or not, Garza is the mostrninteresting character in the novel.rnWoodroyv Call, yvho should hold centerrnstage, has always been a one-dimensionalrncharacter, without much to say andrnyvithout many thoughts in his head.rnCall, loyal as a bloodhound, is good forrnkilling, but even being yvhittled downrnbit bv bit over the years fails to inspirernhim to much reflection. Garza, on thernother hand, actually feels passion for hisrnline of work, sinister though it may be,rnand is the only character who might bernsaid to possess an idea. The taciturnrnCall (“I ain’t a layvman. I work for myself.”)rnnaturally has to go up againstrnGarza, inspired not by noble thoughtsrnbut rather by a bounty offered by a railroadrntycoon. Call suffers all kinds of setbacks,rnand only the help of his trustworthyrnsidekick Pea Eye saves him fromrnyvinding up any worse than he does.rnDevotees of the Western genre willrnfind little to displease in Streets of Laredo.rnMcMurtry peppers his story withrnenough historical characters to keeprndiehards guessing and uses his considerablernliterary skills to elevate his story farrnabove the average oater, bringing inrnsome of the dark vision that makes hisrnearlier modern novels like I’he Last PicturernShow so compelling. As he remarksrnof the people of the bordedand, “Survivalrnyvas all they had time for, and numbersrnof them failed even at that.” His sequelrnis not, and probably could not havernbeen, the great achievement of LonesomernDove, but far weaker attempts havernbeen made at getting to the heart of thernWest than Streets of Laredo.rnGregory McNamee’s Gila: ThernLife and Death of an AmericanrnRiver is forthcoming from CrownrnPubhshers.rnDECEMBER 1993/39rnrnrn