SOURCE: "The Nuclear Winter of Cormac McCarthy," in The Virginia Quarterly Review, Vol. 62, No. 4, Autumn, 1986, pp. 746-50.

In the following essay, Longley notes that every major episode in Blood Meridian is based on a real event in history. The critic comments upon the themes evident in every McCarthy novel: the "pervasiveness of evil," the "usurpation of authority," and the "denial of responsibility."

Blood Meridian is not for the tenderhearted. In his fifth novel, McCarthy presents us with a new locale and a different time frame. The action in each of his first four novels is centered in East Tennessee and takes place in the middle of the 20th century. Blood Meridian takes place in northern Mexico and what is now the American southwest. The time is 1848–1850 with an epilogue some years later.

One thing must be clearly understood from the start. Every major episode in this book is...