Etulain, Richard W. 1938–

(Richard Wayne Etulain)

PERSONAL: Surname is pronounced "Ed-a-lane"; born August 26, 1938, in Wapato, WA; son of Sebastian (a rancher and businessman) and Mary (Gillard) Etulain; married Joyce Oldenkamp (a librarian), August 18, 1961; children: Jacqueline Joyce. Education: Northwest Nazarene College, B.A. (history and English), 1960; University of Oregon, M.A., 1962, Ph. D., 1966; postdoctoral study at Dartmouth College, 1969–70, and University of Nevada, 1973–74. Politics: Independent. Religion: Church of the Nazarene. Hobbies and other interests: Travel, writing, book collecting.

ADDRESSES: Home—Portland, OR. Office—Department of History, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001. E-mail—baldbasq@ unm.edu.

CAREER: High school teacher in Lowell, OR, 1961–62, and Eugene, OR, 1962–64; Lane Community College, Eugene, part-time instructor in history, 1965–66; University of Oregon, Eugene, assistant professor, 1966–68; Northwest Nazarene College, Nampa, ID, assistant professor of American studies, 1968–69; Idaho State University, Pocatello, associate professor, 1970–76, professor of history, 1976–79, chair of department, 1972–74; University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, professor of history, beginning 1979, became professor emeritus. Member of European seminar at Gordon College, 1969; visiting associate professor, Eastern Nazarene College, 1968–69, and University of Oregon, 1973; visiting professor, University of California—Los Angeles, 1978, and University of Oregon, 1978; Hilliard Distinguished Professor of Humanities, University of Nevada, Reno, 1985; annual research lecturer, University of New Mexico, 1991; Pettyjohn Distinguished Lecturer, Washington State University, 1992; visiting professor, Pepperdine University, 1997. American Specialist Lecturer, U.S. Information Agency, 1977; lecturer in American western literature and culture, Falkenstein seminar, 1978; lecturer on American West in India, 1986.

MEMBER: Organization of American Historians, Western Literature Association (member of executive council, 1965–68, 1975–78; president, 1979–80), Western History Association (member of council, 1984–86; president, 1998–99).

AWARDS, HONORS: National Historical Publications Commission fellowship, 1969–70; National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship, 1973–74; Huntington Library fellow, summer, 1974 and 1984; Alumnus of the Year, Northwest Nazarene College, 1975; American Philosophical Society research grant, 1976–77; Louis Knott Koontz Award, 1976, for best article appearing in Pacific Historical Review; award for best journal article on western history, Western History Association, 1976; Alumni Achievement Award, University of Oregon, 1991; West Heritage Award, 1996; John Caughey Award, 1996; Best Book in Western History Award, Western History Association, 1997; Wrangler/Western Heritage Award, National Cowboy Hall of Fame, 1997; Excellence in Humanities Award, New Mexico Endowment for the Humanities, 1998.

WRITINGS:

Western American Literature: A Bibliography of Interpretive Books and Articles, University of South Dakota Press (Vermillion, SD), 1972.

(Editor, with others) Interpretive Approaches to Western American Literature, Idaho State University Press (Boise, ID), 1972.

Owen Wister, Boise State College (Boise, ID), 1973.

(Editor, with Bert W. Marley) The Idaho Heritage: A Collection of Historical Essays, Idaho State University Press (Boise, ID), 1974.

(Editor, with Michael T. Marsden) The Popular Western: Essays toward a Definition, Popular Culture Press (Bowling Green, OH), 1974.

(Editor, with Merwin R. Swanson) Idaho History: A Bibliography, Idaho State University Press (Boise, ID), 1974, second edition, 1979.

(Lecturer) The Mountain Man in Literature (sound recording), Everett/Edwards (Deland, FL), 1974.

(Editor) The American West: The Frontier Era, Everett/Edwards (Deland, FL), 1976.

(Lecturer) The Closing Frontier (sound recording), Everett/Edwards (Deland, FL), 1976.

(Editor, with Rodman W. Paul) The Frontier and the American West, AHM Publishing (Arlington Heights, IL), 1977.

(Editor, with W.A. Douglass and W. Jacobson) Anglo-American Contributions to Basque Studies, Desert Research Institute (Reno, NV), 1977.

(Editor) The New Frontier: The Twentieth Century West, Everett/Edwards (Deland, FL), 1979.

(Editor) Jack London on the Road: The Tramp Diary and Other Hobo Writings, Utah State University Press (Logan, UT), 1979.

(Lecturer) The Modern Literary West (sound recording), Everett/Edwards (Deland, FL), 1979.

(Editor) The Basques (bibliography), Gale (Detroit, MI), 1981.

(Editor, with Fred Erisman) Fifty Western Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide, Greenwood Press (New York, NY), 1982.

(Editor) A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Western American Literature, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1982.

Conversations with Wallace Stegner on Western History and Literature, University of Utah Press (Salt Lake City, UT), 1983.

(Editor) Western Films: A Short History, Sunflower University Press (Manhattan, KS), 1983.

(Editor, with Noel Riley Fitch) Faith and Imagination: Essays on Evangelicals and Literature, Far West Books (Albuquerque, NM), 1985.

Ernest Haycox, Boise State University (Boise, ID), 1988.

(Coeditor) The Twentieth-Century West: Historical Interpretations, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1989.

(With Michael P. Malone) The American West: A Twentieth-Century History, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1989.

(Editor) Writing Western History: Essays on Major Western Historians, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1991.

(Compiler) Religion in the Twentieth-Century American West: A Bibliography, University of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM), 1991.

(Editor) Contemporary New Mexico, 1940–1990, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1994.

(Coeditor) The American West in the Twentieth Century: A Bibliography, University of Oklahoma Press (Norman, OK), 1994.

(Coeditor) A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Western American Literature, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1995.

Reimagining the Modern American West: A Century of Fiction, History, and Art, University of Arizona Press (Tucson, AZ), 1996.

(Coauthor) Stegner: Conversations on History and Literature, University of Nevada Press (Reno, NV), 1996.

(Coeditor) James J. Rawls, Chief Red Fox Is Dead: A History of Native Americans since 1945, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1996.

(Coeditor) Henry C. Dethloff, The United States and the Global Economy since 1945, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1997.

(Editor, with Glenda Riley) By Grit and Grace: Eleven Women Who Shaped the American West, Fulcrum (Golden, CO), 1997.

(Editor, with Gerald D. Nash) Researching Western History: Topics in the Twentieth Century, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1997

(Editor, with Ferenc M. Szasz) Religion in Modern New Mexico, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1997.

(Editor) Myths and the American West, Sunflower University Press (Manhattan, KS), 1998.

(Coeditor) Hal K. Rothman, The Greening of a Nation?: Environmentalism in the United States since 1945, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1998.

(Coeditor) Mary Ann Watson, Defining Visions: Television and the American Experience since 1945, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1998.

(Coeditor) Philippa Strum, Privacy: The Debate in the United States since 1945, Harcourt (New York, NY), 1998.

(Coeditor) With Badges and Bullets: Lawmen and Outlaws in the Old West, Fulcrum (Golden, CO), 1999.

(Editor, with Jeronima Echeverria) Portraits of Basques in the New World, University of Nevada Press (Reno, NV), 1999.

(Compiler and author of introduction) Does the Frontier Experience Make America Exceptional?, Bedford/St. Martin's (New York, NY), 1999.

Telling Western Stories: From Buffalo Bill to Larry McMurtry, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 1999.

(Coeditor) The Hollywood West: Lives of Film Legends Who Shaped It, Fulcrum (Golden, CO), 2000.

(Editor) Charles A. Siringo, A Texas Cowboy; or, Fifteen Years on the Hurricane Deck of a Spanish Pony, Penguin (New York, NY), 2000.

(Editor and author of introduction) Cesar Chavez: A Brief Biography with Documents, Palgrave (New York, NY), 2002.

(Editor) Writing Western History: Essays on Major Western Historians, foreword by Glenda Riley, University of Nevada Press (Reno, NV), 2002.

(Editor) New Mexican Lives: Profiles and Historical Stories, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 2002.

(Editor, with Glenda Riley) Wild Women of the Old West, Fulcrum (Golden, CO), 2003.

(Editor, with Ferenc M. Szasz) The American West in 2000: Essays in Honor of Gerald D. Nash, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 2003.

(Editor, with Glenda Riley) Chiefs and Generals: Nine Men Who Shaped the American West, Fulcrum (Golden, CO), 2004.

(Editor) Western Lives: A Biographical History of the American West, University of New Mexico Press (Albuquerque, NM), 2004.

Contributor of over 250 articles and reviews to scholarly journals. Editor, with Michael T. Marsden, of "Popular Western Writers" series (monographs), Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1977–. Editor, The American Literary West, special issue of Journal of the West, Sunflower University Press, 1980, and Cultural History of the American West, special issue of Journal of American Culture, Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1980. Editor, New Mexico Historical Review, 1979–85; member of editorial board, Rendezvous, 1976–79, Pacific Historical Review, 1976–79, Idaho Yesterdays, 1976–81, Journal of the West, 1978–, Western Historical Quarterly, 1978–80, Journal of American Culture, 1978–, Great Plains Quarterly, 1979–, Journal of Regional Cultures, 1981–, and Montana: The Magazine of Western History, 1985–.

SIDELIGHTS: Richard W. Etulain is a professor emeritus of history whose main interest is the history and literature of the American West. He has written and edited numerous books, approaching his subject from various angles. For example, in Religion in Modern New Mexico Etulain, working with Ferenc M. Szasz, edited a collection of essays by a number of experts on how various world religions have had an impact on New Mexican life and culture. "The cumulative result is informative and interesting," attested Eldon G. Ernst in the Pacific Historical Review. Journal of Church and State writer Jon Hunner commented that the book "engagingly depicts how the state's fertile environment has nurtured a rich mixture of Christian and non-Christian beliefs." Although Ernst felt the collection could have been more logically organized, he concluded that "the book contributes much to the generally neglected history of religion in the North American West."

Etulain focuses on the impact of women on Western history in another collection, edited with Glenda Riley, called By Grit and Grace: Eleven Women Who Shaped the American West. "This ambitious volume presents the state of the art in Western women's biography," according to Nancy Page Fernandez in a Pacific Historical Review article. The book covers the lives of well-known figures in history, such as Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane, as well as less well known but still important women, such as suffragist Abigail Scott and entrepreneur Mary Ellen Pleasant. "By Grit and Grace seeks to show the impact of women as pioneers and developers not only on the western United States but on the West as American history," explained Fernandez.

Etulain has also written a number of original works about the West for both students and general audiences. Reimagining the Modern American West: A Century of Fiction, History, and Art explains for general readers the three different cultural movements in the West, including the regionalists, postregionalists, and frontier schools, and how historians, writers, and artists figure into these movements. Although a Publishers Weekly contributor found the book to be well researched, the reviewer felt that the work was "not entirely successful" due to its heavy use of "academic jargon" that would not appeal to some readers. John Mort, writing in Booklist, noted that Etulain skips over some notables, such as Oakley Hall and Larry Woiwode, but added that "he is to be commended for naming many women and minority writers, and he has a good knowledge of the Beats."

Etulain's Telling Western Stories: From Buffalo Bill to Larry McMurtry earned warm reviews from critics. Here, the author draws on his extensive knowledge of Western literature to discuss such authors as Louis L'Amour, Owen Wister, and Leslie Marmon Silko, as well as the "untold stories" of famous Western heroes. "There is much to admire about this collection of essays," wrote Robert W. Rydell in the Pacific Historical Review. "It is refreshingly free from jargon; it offers new perspectives on canonical works in western American literature and history; and it demonstrates the ongoing power of narrative formulas to structure scholarly debates."

Etulain once told CA: "I find myself increasingly interested in the sociocultural life of the American West and the presentations of that region in American popular culture. As the son of an immigrant Basque, I grew up on a sheep ranch and experienced the West firsthand. But only in the last decade or so has the region become the focus of most of my research and writing. The history and culture of the modern West, particularly, are an unexplored frontier. At the same time, I am intrigued with evangelical America, especially with its influences on American history and literature, and intend to study these influences during the next few years."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Literature, September, 2001, David Carpenter, review of Telling Western Stories: From Buffalo Bill to Larry McMurtry, p. 669.

Booklist, June 1, 1994, John Mort, review of Contemporary New Mexico: 1940–1990, p. 1767; September 15, 1996, John Mort, review of Reimagining the Modern American West: A Century of Fiction, History, and Art, p. 213.

Journal of American Ethnic History, winter, 2001, Linda White, review of Portraits of Basques in the New World, p. 142.

Journal of American History, December, 1990, Patricia Nelson Limerick, review of The Twentieth-Century West: Historical Interpretations, p. 1069; September, 1993, William Deverell, review of The American West: A Twentieth-Century History, p. 718; June, 1997, Nancy Shoemaker, review of Reimagining the Modern American West, p. 257; December, 2000, Fred Erisman, review of Telling Western Stories, p. 1066.

Journal of Church and State, winter, 1999, Jon Hunner, review of Religion in Modern New Mexico, p. 152.

Library Journal, December 1, 1982, review of A Bibliographical Guide to the Study of Western American Literature, p. 2248; October 15, 1994, Stephen L. Hupp, review of The American West in the Twentieth Century: A Bibliography, p. 50.

Pacific Historical Review, May, 1998, Walter Nugent, review of Researching Western History: Topics in the Twentieth Century, p. 300; August, 1998, Eldon G. Ernst, review of Religion in Modern New Mexico, p. 450; August, 1999, Nancy Page Fernandez, review of By Grit and Grace: Eleven Women Who Shaped the American West, p. 477; May, 2001, Robert W. Rydell, review of Telling Western Stories, p. 326.

Publishers Weekly, August 12, 1996, review of Reimagining the Modern American West, p. 80.

USA Today (magazine), January, 2005, Gerald F. Kreyche, review of Western Lives: A Biographical History of the American West, p. 80.

Wild West, June, 1998, Candy Moulton, review of By Grit and Grace, p. 67; October, 2000, Louis Hart, review of With Badges and Bullets: Lawmen and Outlaws in the Old West, p. 70.

Wilson Library Bulletin, December, 1982, James Rettig, review of Fifty Western Writers: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide, p. 348.