A Rabidly Historical Review

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson
The Story of Mankind by Hendrik van Loon

Old Yeller gets shot at the end.

"MERWYN!," you might scream, "why didn't you put SPOILER warnings up? You just ruined the book for everyone!"

Now hold on. First of all, the fact that Old Yeller gets shot at the end is a bit of cultural trivia that is known by most people even if they've never read the book or seen the movie. Secondly we're told so right up front, on the first page:

He made me so mad at first that I wanted to kill him. Then, later, when I had to kill him, it was like having to shoot some of my own folks.

But the whole story isn't about how Travis Coates ends up shooting his dog. It's a reminiscence, loosely based on family stories of Gipson's grandparents, of a fourteen year old boy's coming of age the year his father left on a cattle drive.

The men of Salt Licks, Texas, pooled their herds together to get the best price in Abilene. This was to acquire "cash money" which was sorely lacking in those years after The Civil War. Travis Coates is given the unenviable task of being the man of the family during his father's absence and he does it without complaint. Well, actually, there are a couple complaints: His five-year-old brother Arliss and an ugly stray dog that steals the last of the pork meat.

Travis would have been happy enough to kill the dog right then and there. Little Arliss wanted to keep him, however, and Mrs. Coates didn't see why not. The first few chapters give us examples of why Travis wants to get rid of Yeller but soon one complaint does something that shows him how important both of them are to him. (That right there is a poorly written sentence that would get slashed, crossed, circled and underlined in any English Class or Editor's office. Come to think of it so is this one.)

While Fred Gipson considered Old Yeller to be his best book most give that honor to Hound Dog Man which was written a couple years earlier. Gipson followed Old Yeller with the sequel Savage Sam which was critically applauded despite it's being too violent for younger readers. Todays' reader may have a problem with the portrayal of Indians in the books, especially Savage Sam. I personally don't see the need. I consider Dances with Wolves to be one of my favorite movies: That, along with plenty of shows and documentaries on The History Channel, give me more than my share of "white guilt". Being respectful of todays' Native Americans shouldn't require one to block out the fact that sometimes settlers were massacred.

There's nothing wrong with history being looked at from a different perspective. It's admirable to let all sides have their say. When we're told that "those who forget history are condemned to repeat it" we must remember that it applies to all aspects.

History is complex; the stories from any aspect are almost infinite. History books today cover every conceivable event and subject. One bit of History Trivia is that the first winner of The John Newbery Medal is a history book, The Story of Mankind, by the Dutch-American historian Hendrik Willem van Loon.

Hendrik covered the entire known historical story of the world in one book, writing and illustrating it in a manner easy for youngsters to grasp. (The Durants would do the exact opposite with their multi-book series, each chapter of van Loon equaling 500 pages, small type, of Durant.)

The Story of Mankind, having been written in 1921, is a bit dated. Not because it precedes The Atomic Age and The Space Race and Watergate and AIDS but because Hendrik made the assumption that not only were his readers going to be white but also of Dutch descent. He had originally written it for his children so it's possible he never got around to re-editing it for a broader audience.

van Loon's book, despite its simplicity, is loaded with insightful observation, such as:

Gaius Julius Octavianus Augustus was living in the palace of the Palitine hill, busily engaged upon the task of ruling his empire.

In a little village of distant Syria, Mary, the wife of Joseph the Carpenter, was tending her little boy, born in a stable of Bethlehem.

This is a strange world.

Before long, the palace and the stable were to meet in open combat.

And the stable was to emerge victorious.

Hendrik van Loon intended for The Story of Mankind to be updated frequently. Long after his death new editions with extra chapters are still being released. After 400 pages of Hendrik's style these extra pieces stick out like a sore thumb. When reading the book for this review (again) I read only as far as his original went. That left me nearly 200 pages of unread material but I was only interested in van Loon's take.