In the late Seventies, according to Howard Fast, who seems to have examined all the documents with the scrupulous imagination of a historical novelist, the Cheyenne Indians were the heroes and the victims of a persecution which will touch any American on one of his conscience's sorest spots. Mr. Fast tells the story in The Last Frontier. It is a great story, even if the book is something short of great. Mr. Fast is not sentimental, and the agonized sympathy with which one puts the novel down is the result of what happens in its pages, not of any tears Mr. Fast sheds himself or asks us to shed. Here is a solid and memorable addition to the vast literature about the American Indian. (p. x)
Mr. Fast tells [the story] from the white man's point of view. We see little of the Indians save as a pathetic, dwindling, infinitely courageous cloud of horsemen on the horizon. There are some battles, and many skirmishes, in which the Indians morally come off best. Always, and increasingly, do we feel on their side, longing to have them escape and reach their ancient home. Which was all that they were trying to do. The Last Frontier is a memorable lesson in humility to the aliens who broke treaty after treaty with the original Americans and justified their cruelty by saying to themselves that the only good Indian was a dead Indian. (pp. x, xii)
Robert Littell, "Outstanding Novels: 'The Last Frontier'," in The Yale Review (© 1941 by Yale University; reprinted by permission of the editors), Vol. XXXI, No. 1, September, 1941, pp. x, xii.
This is a free excerpt of 271 words. There are 275 words (approx.
1 page at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
Read the rest of this Criticism with our Fast, Howard (Melvin) 1914–: Critical Essay by Robert Littell Access Pass.
