Death Comes for the Archbishop

Willa Cather, 1927 Date Read: 5/9/22

I am a militant atheist, a recovered Baptist, and I really take issue with missionaries. I don't think it's okay for someone to try to force others - usually, those who are considered "primitive" or "uncultured" - to give up their beliefs just because you say so. Especially when, historically and practically, missionaries have worked hand-in-glove with colonialism and the white-ification of black and brown people.

I also have a bit of an issue with Catholics, who (unlike most Protestants) are discouraged from reading the Bible and also follow a lot of other dogma that isn't Biblical. It's like, they're supposed to be the OG Christianity but really, they're just 2000 years of accumulated nonsense and political decisions.

That all said - I enjoyed this novel. It is vaguely similar to Vanity Fair (one of my top favorite novels) in that it follows the life of an individual as they live through historical events. In Thackeray's case, he was talking about the Napoleonic wars. This novel is set in the Southwestern United States directly after the Mexican-American War. At the novel's beginning, there were few white people and almost no "Americans" in the diocese, which encompasses part of modern Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Colorado. There are no roads, few cities, no municipalities and everybody speaks Spanish. Under these conditions, two French priests are dispatched to succor the Mexicans and convert the "Indians".

It is a Western without being based around heroic white cowboys fightin' the dastardly Injuns. I've read very few Westerns for this reason - I'm not interested in racism, thanks. The priests at the center of the story are deep unracist, showing love to everyone, not just whites or Americanized brown people.

In all, I can say I've enjoyed Willa Cather's novels (I previously read and liked My Antonia) and I will search out more of them once the List is done.

Length: 297 pages in paperback

ReReadability: Yes

Classic: Yes!