Savage Dreams: A Journey into the Hidden Wars of the American West 9780520957923

Citation preview

ACCLAIM FOR RebeCCa Solnit's

SAVAGE

DREAMS

"The product of a stunningly original and expansive imagination, Savage Dreams ties together the histories of Yosemite National Park and the Nevada Test Site—the country's Eden and Armageddon— to illuminate the political stakes of how we think about, and act upon, the landscape."—SF Weekly "Solnit's intelligent meditations may awaken us from our self-congratulatory coma. [Her] mind is fertile, wide-ranging and capable of integrating the bewildering deluge of fact, political delusion, flights of genius, inconceivable danger and cunning deceit that [have] characterized the nuclear age. . . . Savage Dreams is a historical travelogue, a memoir that rounds out stories of Solnit's own travels with geographical and anthropological anecdotes." —Los Angeles Times "Reckless courage. . . . Savage Dreams summons us to the campfires of resistance."—Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz "Savage Dreams is about many things: despoliation and restoration, finding a voice between contemporary noise and silence, making friends and enemies. Most of all, though, it may be about a journey into history: about how understanding history and making it are not really very different. 'To know a place, like a friend or a lover, is for it to become familiar,' Solnit writes; 'to know it better is for it to become strange again.' That is the outline of the map Savage Dreams fills in."—Greil Marcus, author of Lipstick Traces

This page intentionally left blank

SAVAGE DREAMS

REBECCA SOLNIT

SA VA GE DREAMS A JOURNEY INTO

THE

HIDDEN WARS OF

THE

AMERICAN WEST Twentieth Anniversary Edition "With a New Preface

University of California Press

University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England First University of California Press edition 1999 Reprinted by arrangement with the author. © 1994, 2014 by Rebecca Solnit ISBN 978-0-520-28228-5 (paper) ISBN 978-0-520-95792-3 (ebook) The Library of Congress has cataloged an earlier edition of this book as follows: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Solnit, Rebecca. Savage dreams : a journey into the landscape wars of the American West / Rebecca Solnit.—ist California paperbacks ed. p. cm. Originally published: San Francisco : Sierra Club Books, 0:994. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-520-22066-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) i. West (U.S.)—Description and travel. 2. Landscape—West (U.S.)—History. 3. Yosemite National Park (Calif). 4. Nuclear weapons—Testing—Environmental aspects— Nevada. 5. Indians of North America—West (U.S.)—Wars. I. Title. F59I.S6685 1999 978—dc2i 99-20034 CIP Manufactured in the United States of America 23 10

22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

14

In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Rolland Enviroioo, a 100% postconsumer fiber paper that is FSC certified, deinked, processed chlorine-free, and manufactured with renewable biogas energy. It is acid-free and EcoLogo certified.

Co ntents

Preface to the Twentieth Anniversary Edition

xiii

Acknowledgments xxvii

DUST,

OR ERASING

THE NEVADA

THE TEST

FUTURE: SITE

From Hell to Breakfast 3

3

Like Moths to a Candle

38

April Fool's Day

68

Trees

p1

Lise Meitner's Walking Shoes

108

Golden Hours and Iron County 145

145

Ruby Valley and the Ranch

150

The War

101

Keeping Pace with the Tortoise

204

WATER, OR FORGETTING THE PAST: YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK The Rainbow 2/j

215

Spectators 28

228

Framing the View

248

Vanishing (Remaining) 268

268

Fire in the Garden

294

The Name of the Snake

309

Up the River of Mercy 328

328

Savage's Grave

355

Full Circle

3