Book Review: The Red and the White: A Family Saga of the American West

This is the last of a trio of books I've been plodding through for what seems like months.

As the title suggests, this book, written by Andrew Graybill, focuses on a family, in fact three generations of a Montana family, beginning with Malcolm Clarke, an early white settler who entered the picture at the end of the 'buffalo days'. Malcolm married a Blackfoot woman, Coth-co-co-na, with whom he had several children. In those early days, there were few white women on the frontier, so mixed race marriage was a common and accepted practice. Malcolm became very successful, owning a large ranch north of Helena, which is now the Sieben ranch owned by the family of Senator Max Baucus. He was even among the individuals that started the Montana Historical Society. Nonetheless, these were also the years in which the Blackfeet lost their traditional way of life due to white encroachment. So it was a stressful time that included Malcolm's murder by a Blackfoot Indian whom he had offended, and the Marias Massacre of a Blackfoot band by the U.S. Army.

The story then turns to Malcolm's daughter Helen, who navigates the changing world in which those of mixed ancestry begin to be discriminated against in Montana. Moreover, as a woman, opportunities are even scarcer yet. Nonetheless, she spends time on Broadway as an actress, serves as the superintended of public schools in Helena, and works as an allotment agent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Midwest. She finally settles for the remaining decades of her life with her brother in East Glacier, on the Blackfoot Reservation.

The book ends with the story of John Clarke, Helen's nephew and Malcolm's grandson, who also leads a remarkable life. John loses his hearing after getting sick as a young boy. He has some good breaks in the schooling he receives at various deaf education institutions, becoming fluent in sign language, but never actually learning to speak or read lips. He returns to East Glacier at around 20, and never leaves, becoming a nationally known carver/sculptor, a craft he plies until the end of his days. His love for hunting and fishing in Glacier Park are also a major part of his life.

This is a very interesting and readable book, even if it is written by a historian. It shows how much things change over time. When you're living it, change seems slow, sometimes even non-existent, but looking back over three generation of this remarkable family, you can see the immensity of change, and also the resiliency of the human spirit.