Saints, Sinners, and Sovereign Citizens: The Endless War over the West's Public Lands

Abstract

In this timely and compelling work, John L. Smith skillfully engages the numerous and diverse factors at play in what he appropriately refers to as the endless war over public lands in the American West. While his focus is ostensibly on Cliven Bundy and his family's contentious relationship with the federal government, Smith uses Bundy to expose how one case about grazing rights—albeit a dramatic and famous one—can represent the complex and often bitter interaction between westerners and Washington, DC over federal land management. In so doing, Smith tackles a bevy of issues, including the rise of conservatism in the West that manifested during the 1980s as the Sagebrush Rebellion, the growing impact that “an age of social-media celebrity, YouTube stardom, citizen journalism” has had in aggravating political divides, and the rise of militias and extremism that have militarized public discourse (xv).Smith knows the topic and his subjects well, which is a significant strength of the book. As a native Nevadan and journalist who covered the Bundy battle with the federal bureaucracy for several years and for various news outlets, Smith demonstrates command of the material and an intimacy with those most closely involved in the story. His familiarity with the Bundy clan presents an opportunity to cover not only the public but also the more personal side of Cliven and his sons, principally through use of interviews and personal testimonies the Bundys used to promote their side of the eventual conflict. Smith also paints vibrant portraits of other people involved in the standoff and in the larger frame of local and federal relations. For instance, he includes an insightful chapter on former Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid.Smith's biography of Reid is an example of the author at his best: he combines a detailed explanation of Reid's upbringing and a familiarity with his hometown with an appreciation for how the senator's early experiences in local politics and his close connection to the Nevada mining industry laid the groundwork for his approach to land use and environmental policy and his power in the Senate. Smith utilizes Reid's story to represent the complex web of negotiation and compromise that public lands management often produces. As the author notes, Reid's “efforts to protect the land would earn him two national awards from the Sierra Club and the Stewart Udall Conservation Award for his work to protect public lands, yet he was also celebrated with a lifetime-achievement award from the Nevada Mining Association and given a place of honor in the American Gaming Hall of Fame—two industries known for their lack of environmental sensibilities” (201). Rather than suggesting that this rather problematical juggling act is unique to Reid, Smith provides examples of others who have tried to navigate public lands issues through a more moderate path, beholden to neither the Bundy-style version of privatization and private use of public resources nor the management style applied by federal bureaucracies such as the Bureau of Land Management. Reid's seeming ambivalence represents the complexity of land use management in much of the West, but Bundy captures headlines and galvanizes those on the extreme end of the spectrum, which has only further muddied the situation and reinforced the sense that the radical right has identified public lands use as a principal arena of combat.Smith covers considerable ground in his mostly thematic chapters with attention to the religious, social, economic, and political histories of Nevada and the Mountain West. While this approach provides several distinct essays that serve as chapters, the work lacks cohesion and focus in spots, which leaves the reader connecting the dots. A more concerted effort to explain ties between the recent rise of militia movements in the West with the expansion of the radical right in the 1970s and 1980s, for example, would lend credence to the historical dynamics at play in the Bundy movement. Moreover, such an array of coverage means that some topics lack depth. The Sagebrush Rebellion, for example, garners several mentions in the book and understanding it is necessary to ground the Bundy resistance in the past, but the roots of the rebellion and its relation to Ronald Reagan only received some twenty pages.In total, though, this is a great introduction to the Bundys and the larger contest over public lands, the rise of radical conservatism, and the volatility of contemporary politics. Smith's familiarity with the subject and his ability to weave together so many different threads work well this readable work on public land use conflicts in the American West. Saints, Sinners, and Sovereign Citizens should enjoy a wide academic and public audience.