American Character: The Curious Life of Charles Fletcher Lummis and the ....

I live within walking distance of Lummis' home El Alisal. It's fitting that it perches on the edge of what was the Arroyo Seco (dry gulch) whose raw beauty had attracted Lummis and early settlers. And symbolic in that the world's first freeway rushes past it now. In fact, El Alisal faced demolition until preservationists--always outnumbered in L.A.--saved the site. Lummis gave his adopted city a complicated heritage: he boosted its Spanish Californian image and so lured many newcomers who overwhelmed the vistas of fragile arroyo, hills and valleys with millions more homes. The millions clogged the roads, and so freeways followed, along the riverbeds now encased in concrete. Mark Thompson's biography follows that assembled two decades earlier by Lummis' daughter and edited by his son from Lummis' own manuscripts, and one biography from the mid-70s that dwelt on Lummis but with far less access to personal papers. Thompson has access, and has used his resources well to more fully explore the complexity of a truly memorable character whose legacy spanned the Southwest, as he sought to preserve and conserve Native American artifacts and cultures as well as restore the California missions, create a world-class municipal library, write for what became the city's leading newspaper, and still found time to build El Alisal from boulders in the arroyo, hold there wonderfully wacky parties, carry on love affairs, conduct archeological research, ruin three marriages, keep a menagerie of animals and people at his home, and roam off from it on even more travels that followed his first publicity stunt--he sought sponsorship by keeping a travelogue weekly sent to newspapers in an early commercial tie-in for one who sought celebrity-- on his "tramp across the continent" (or most of it!) to Los Angeles from Chillicothe, Ohio, a Harvard dropout at 25 in 1888. Naturally an exciting story, but Thompson digs deeper into how Lummis reflected but overcame some of the prejudices common to the East Coast elite from whose lower ranks he came, and how he struggled with a tempestuous personal life and a libido that created tension, led to an early stroke, and led him on even more intimate adventures much less documented. The readable yet thoroughly documented text reads at a brisk pace; all facets of Lummis' many angles gain clarity. Well-chosen photos capture the idiosyncracies of this unforgettable sombrero-bright green corduroy suit-and-Navajo belt attired eccentric, who did so much to both sustain and unwittingly erase the traces of the Spanish and Native California he came to love.

Charles Lummis is a very interesting person in American and Southwest history, but author Thompson goes way beyond what most biographers would do and produced a richly researched and highly readable story. I read this book in my car, under a streetlight, while my wife attended a Christmas function. Does that tell you how interesting it is? I've passed Lummis's home/museum thousands of times but never visited--now I will.

Mark Thompson's long & deeply researched biography of a forgotten, complex American born just before the Civil War, is fascinating. Over a long & restless life, Charles Lummis became a poet, prolific letter writer, journalist, photographer, archaeologist, editor, champion of Spanish heritage in the Americas, & Indian Rights advocate - the classic workaholic of the late 19th & early 20th Centuries.It was his TRAMP ACROSS THE CONTINENT in 1884, which he weekly serialized in newspaper articles, that catapulted him into the public's eye. In time, as his assignments for the newly-formed Los Angeles Times, took him deeper into the Southwest which would capture his heart & soul, & closer to the American Indians for whom he would advocate mightily, he caught the ear of a President. Theodore Roosevelt came to consider Lummis a vital part of his "cowboy cabinet," & often invited him to Washington. Lummis enjoyed a life-long influence, via his editorials & many books, on the way Americans thought of themselves.In this era of bland plasticity, AMERICAN CHARACTER, reminds us of how individualistic, passionate, offensive & charming our forefathers were. It also reminds us of how devastating was our impact upon the people & the land in a time when a man could bemoan the wholesale slaughter of buffalo & Indians, while not batting an eye as he shot other critters just for the thrill of it!In the light of today's political correctness, Charles Fletcher Lummis' love life was as gilded with misogyny as you would expect from a man of his time - he kept his first marriage secret all through his Harvard years. As in every other aspect of his life, his thirst for affection & companionship was both utilitarian & fascinatingly eccentric.AMERICAN CHARACTER: Charles Fletcher Lummis & the Rediscovery of the Southwest, has been named by the Western Writers of America as Winner of the 2002 Spur Award in the biography category.