REBELS AND OUTLIERS: Real Stories of the American West, collected essays with more ideas than words

REBELS AND OUTLIERS: Real Stories of the American West
JOHN M. GLIONNA
University of Nevada Press (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$27.95 paperback, available now

Rating: 4.75* of five

The Publisher Says: Rebels and Outliers: Real Stories of the American West shines a spotlight on the unforgettable characters that author and journalist John M. Glionna has encountered during his more than 30 years crisscrossing the western United States for some of the nation’s top newspapers. With sharp insights, Glionna captures the essence of the modern West through the lives of its most intriguing, unconventional inhabitants.

From the struggles of a Navajo Nation police officer grappling with the tension of enforcing laws among her own people to the quirks of a pig farmer who feeds his livestock with leftovers from Las Vegas’s extravagant buffets, Glionna fearlessly delves into topics that reveal the complexities of life on the fringes. Each showcases Glionna’s remarkable talent for uncovering the universal truths that connect us all.

This vibrant collection invites readers to journey through the rugged landscapes and tight-knit communities that define the American West. Along the way, you’ll meet individuals whose grit, resilience, and pioneering spirit embody the heart of this region’s legacy.

A captivating follow-up to Glionna’s 2022 book, Outback: Real Stories of the Silver State, Rebels and Outliers is a testament to the untamed, enduring character of the people who call the West home.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I was born as far west as it's possible to get without being in the Pacific Ocean, raised in Texas, and now live as far East as it's possible to get without being in the North Atlantic Ocean. I have a pretty good vantage point, then, to view the self-mythologizing that goes on in the US West.

It's really entertaining, always; but it's often...skewed...by the framework of "The West" wild or otherwise that this country *insists* comes with distinctive character traits. Writers and other creative souls go far out of their way to find reinforcing examples of whatever they're looking for and use them as normalizing examples of the myth they're perpetuating.

Very much what's happening here. And done quite well. As long as one's aware of the larger purpose of the stories, they're very well-reported pieces of creative (in expression, not in factuality) journalistic writing. I'll be clear and say it again: I'm not claiming to know the author knowingly distorted or misrepresented or invented any facts, ideas, opinions, or statements in this collection of articles previously published. I am saying that he selected the subjects to illustrate a point he wanted to make. I do not think of that as a fault.

The mythology of "The Westerner" is pretty pervasive already, so one might wonder with me why this needs or merits reinforcement. I think the author's purpose was to find and hone into gleaming points stories that are entertaining and informative to read, that exemplify the laudable angles of "The Westerner" myth that exist.

I was always, in the eight weeks I dipped in and out of the book, ready to come back for more. I enjoyed, was enlightened and moved by, the stories themselves, the characters, the way the author used postscripts to answer my personal burning question so often unanswered in collections like this: "...and then what happened?" He tells me!

Maybe the most moving piece for me, as an old queer gent, is the story of the gender-nonconforming straight married man with adult children who categorically refused ever to leave his home in what he bitterly called "the Mississippi of the West"—Wyoming, ironically labeling itself as "The Equality State" because women were given (note verb they chose) the vote there first. He taught farmhands about using heavy machinery...in a dress...and some came so far around on him as out and queer that they showed up to class in pink hair and wearing ribbons. His son, past 40 now, says in the piece that his dad was mentally stronger than anyone else he knows. I so deeply agree with him; I wish he'd been my dad. In this piece's postscript, I learned the gent has died of brain cancer. Vale good sir. I hope there's an afterlife so I can meet you there. I'd offer all five stars to this, and a few other, essays, except they're not all quite such thuds in the feels. All, however, were worth reading to me.

This one's emblematic of the stories in here that they all contain more ideas than words. I'm always down for that, and as we enter peak reading-spot usage season, this sort of browsing book with rewarding short hits that hit home is a welcome addition to your, or a gifting-close friend's, library.