Dudes and Savages: The Resonance of Yellowstone

Richard Bevis

Sep 2011 · Trafford Publishing

About this ebook

In a book that is part memoir, part documentary and part fictional narrative, Richard Bevis follows an assortment of teenage "savages" as they descend on Yellowstone Park in 1957, looking for action (and each other) while working at a variety of jobs. Blending comedy and seriousness, *Dudes and Savages: The Resonance of Yellowstone* moves from geology to romance, from history to salesmanship, from mountain climbing to practical jokes on the hapless "dudes." The book traces the well-intentioned but blundering Mason Dixon from his setting off to his return home, and in its final chapters considers the impact that Yellowstone had on him and some other characters over the years. William Wordsworth wrote, There are in our existence spots of time, That with distinct pre-eminence retain A renovating virtue, whence our minds Are nourished and invisibly repaired. Mason wonders if that summer of 1957 among the bears and geysers could have been one of them.

About the author

A retired English professor, the author of several scholarly books on drama and aesthetics, Richard Bevis still remembers his youth, especially a summer spent working in Yellowstone Park. He has turned those memories into a book about the park's history, some of its people, and their impacts on each other.