OWEN WISTER AWARD

Will Bagley takes readers on ‘epic American’ journeys

During their long and perilous journey across the West, they OWEN WISTER AWARD wrote some of the greatest prose of the 19th Century. The Named after Owen Wister, author trail is a journey, a subject that has engaged writers since of and considered the The Virginian Homer wrote the Odyssey. What storyteller could resist such “father” of the Western story, the Owen Wister Award is presented a great saga?” to a living author for lifetime Bagley’s drive to write about the Mormon pilgrimage was achievement in Western history fueled in part because of his Mormon heritage. “I have a and literature. The recipient is great-great-grandfather, grandfathers, and grandmothers on automatically inducted into the all sides who crossed the plains, most of them before the Western Writers Hall of Fame, which is housed outside the McCracken Research Library at the Buffalo Bill railroad, and I’m very proud of that heritage and very proud Center of the West in Cody, . of the Mormon people,” Bagley confessed at a conference in 2002. He refers to his ancestry when challenging those critics who say the books he has written about are anti-Mormon. By Chris Enss Bagley is the author and editor of Playwright and poet Oscar Wilde once said, “To give an more than 20 books. Among the many accurate description of what is significant and true is not titles are: Scoundrel’s Tale: The Samuel merely the proper occupation of the Brannan Papers; A Bright, Rising Star: historian, but the inalienable privilege A Brief Life and a Letter of James Fergu- of any man of parts and culture.” son; and Always a Cowboy: Judge Wilson Will Bagley has approached history McCarthy and the Rescue of the Denver & writing with the reverence Wilde Rio Grande Western Railroad. He’s also described and, in so doing, become contributed articles and reviews for pro- a trusted custodian of the human ex- fessional journals such as Historical perience as it relates to the American Quarterly, Overland Journal, The Journal frontier. of Mormon History and the Western His- Will Bagley It is for that reason WWA has torical Quarterly. selected Will Bagley to be the recipient of the 2019 Wister In addition to the books, newspaper Award. articles, and magazine articles he has In the late 1990s, Bagley began turning out an written, he has appeared in more than unprecedented string of best-selling books about the history two dozen documentary films, notably of the American West (So Rugged and Mountainous: Blaz- Helen Whitney’s “The Mormons” on ing Trails to Oregon and California, With Golden Visions Bright PBS’s The American Experience. Before Them: Trails to the Mining West, : Bagley’s list of honors is staggering. He has been the and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows). A mu- recipient of the Smith-Pettit Best Book Award from the sician and journalist, he turned professional historian and John Whitmer Historical Association, the Western History history writer and has been celebrated for his thought-pro- voking work. Critics have praised Bagley for his thorough Will Bagley speaks at a Charles E. Rankin and Will Bagley. WWA convention. research and for his ability to plainly address the political and religious dynamics surrounding controversial topics in his books. It’s the job of each historian-writer to select specific sub- ject matter from the nearly limitless topics available. Bagley chose to write about overland migration and the Mormons. Bagley, a native of Utah, attended Brigham Young Univer- sity and the University of California in pursuit of a degree in history. The pioneers’ push beyond the Mississippi and the impact of their arrival on the frontier contributed to his decision to write about westward movement. Bagley explained his fascination with the overland trails and the emigrant experience in this way: “It’s an epic Amer- ican story of triumph and tragedy with a cast of 500,000 heroes (mostly women) and scoundrels (almost all men). JUNE 2019 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 17 Will Bagley shows a National Park Service trails-map brochure. Johnny D. Boggs

Association Caughey Book Prize, the Western Heritage Wrangler Award and three Spur Awards. He has been a member of WWA for more than 15 years and has served on the organiza- tion’s board of directors. Bagley’s work is a testament to Will Bagley picks up a Spur Award fnalist certifcate. Johnny D. Boggs what it means to be a historian. He has been a fearless keeper of truth – uncorrupted, free and willing to state integrity of the subject he has written the facts even if it offends. He has not about. been influenced by sympathy, shame or The Wister Award is a fitting tribute remorse. He has told things as they are to one of the American West’s most Steven Hanley and Will Bagley at Mountain prolific historians. Meadows during the 2004 WWA convention. – honestly and without destroying the Candy Moulton

Congratulations to our Winners

Will Bagley Mark Nelson Winner of the 2019 Owen Wister Award Winner of the 2019 Spur Award for Lifetime Contributions to for Best Western Biography Western Literature White Hat: T e Military Career of Captain William Philo Clark

UNIVERSITY OF 1 800 848 6224 EXT.1 · OUPRESS.COM THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA THE ARTHUR H. CLARK CO. IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY An Imprint of the University of Oklahoma Press INSTITUTION. WWW.OU.EDU/EOO OKLAHOMA PRESS CONNECT WITH US

18 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 Speaking about Will “Will Bagley has written books regard- understanding how and why the trails went “Will Bagley is an independent scholar. ing such diverse subjects as the Mormons, where they did. A historian to the core, he Singly, both words are appropriate. Will mining and overland trails. His meticulous is also unbelievably generous in sharing is a scholar by any measure, and he has research of often long-forgotten sources, his knowledge and sources with other always been independent, sometimes along with his lucid writing style, provide writers in an effort to further the study exasperatingly so. And he is arguably the examples from which all historical writers of westward migration. I have personally most prolific Western history author of could benefit. Bravo, Will, and congratu- benefited from his generosity, but most of our generation. Mormons and overland lations upon your well-deserved Wister all, I appreciate his witty, sometimes sar- trails have been Will’s particular special- Award.” castic attitude. Will is not just a tenacious ties, and I am proud to say the University – James A. Crutchfield, researcher, he is a brilliant writer. His Blood of Oklahoma Press and the Arthur H. Owen Wister Award recipient of the Prophets is a classic – impeccably Clark Co. have been his primary publish- researched and written with precision.” ers. But historians, readers and researchers “No writer has done more to challenge – Candy Moulton, both today and long into the future will be and rectify the ‘official’ history of Utah WWA executive director his greatest beneficiaries. Among his most than Will Bagley. A meticulous researcher, signal accomplishments have been Blood evocative writer and the sworn enemy of “Will Bagley is the ideal historian. His of the Prophets, his award-winning narra- institutional revisionism, Bagley ranks as research is groundbreaking and deep. And tive history of the Mountain Meadows one of the West’s best and most essential because he’s a superb writer, he knows Massacre, and his 16-volume Kingdom historians.” that nonfiction should be as compelling as in the West documentary series on the – Kirk Ellis, the best fiction. When we read his work, Mormons. Adorably irascible, Will has also WWA past president from Blood of the Prophets to South Pass: been one of the most generous, candid and Gateway to a Continent, and every book in approachable people the Western history “Without doubt, Will Bagley knows between, we know that we are in the hands profession has ever had. God bless him.” more about the documentary accounts of of a master. As Will once told me, ‘History – Charles E. Rankin, the overland migration than any writer is one damn thing after another’ – and he University of Oklahoma Press ever. He has spent years researching and sure knows how to tell it. Bagley will be editor-in-chief, retired amassing an impressive collection of first- read for generations to come, and his life’s hand accounts for all the trails. His work work is a gift not only to all who love his- goes farther than the archives, as he has tory, but to the entire nation.” spent plenty of time roaming the land, – Nancy Plain, WWA president

Some honors for The Mormon Rebel- Spur Award Finalist, Best Western His- lion: America’s First torical Nonfiction Book, WWA Will Bagley’s books Civil War, 1857-1858 Western Heritage Wrangler Award, Co-authored by David Outstanding Nonfiction Book, National South Pass: Gateway to L. Bigler Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum a Continent University of Okla- Outstanding Academic Titles, Choice: homa Press - 2011 University of Oklahoma Current Reviews for Academic Libraries Press - 2014 Amy Allen Price Co-Founders Best Military History Blood of the Prophets: Book Award, Western- Award, Utah Division Brigham Young and the ers International of State History Massacre at Mountain Francis Armstrong Spur Award, Best Western Nonfiction Meadows University of Okla- Madsen Best History Historical Book, WWA homa Press - 2002 Book Award, Utah Di- John Whitmer Historical Association, Caroline Bancroft vision of State History Best Book Award in Latter Day Saint His- History Prize Spur Award Finalist, Best Western His- tory Caughey Western torical Nonfiction Book, WWA So Rugged and History Association With Golden Visions Mountainous: Blazing Prize, Western History Association Bright Before Them: the Trails to Oregon Smith-Petit Best Book Award, John Trails to the Mining and California, Whitmer Historical Association West, 1849–1852 1812–1848 Spur Award, Best Western Historical University of Oklahoma University of Okla- Nonfiction Book, WWA Press - 2012 homa Press - 2010 Westerners International Best Book Spur Award, Best Wyoming State Award Western Historical Historical Society Book Nonfiction Book, Award, Biography WWA

JUNE 2019 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 19