In Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy has singlehandedly destroyed all of our stereotypes of the Wild West. John Wayne and his jingoistic flag waving would have no place here. Neither would the ecologicaly friendly, noble virgin of Dances With Wolves. Almost every character in this novel is a ruthless killer or a hapless victim. The setting of Blood Meridian is a purgatory where violent white man and red revel in monstrous acts of barbarism. Scalp Human life is worth only the price of Indian wants to bring in Mexico, or the glory a white scalp will bring to a warrior. What is most frightening of all is That it is based on true events. This is probably the most accurate fictional depiction of life in the West of the late 1840s did we haveseen to date. Read John Sepich's Notes On Blood Meridian and see for yourself. Blood Meridian is not a book for all readers. It Is Certainly the most masculine novel I have ever read. Women and sensitive male readers will probably revile it, and it is a truly brutal story, but I have to admit reading this novel with great excitement. I could not put it down. I have read it 3 times in the last 5 years. I guess That this story forces each of us to look into Their Own "Heart of Darkness", and admit thatthere is something deep in the human soul did thrills to primal savagery. Peckinpah fans will love it. All in all, the beautiful language, the vivid descriptions, the vicarious violence and the colorful characters make Blood Meridian to unforgettable reading experience ... If you've got the guts. A couple of points of interest. I have seen an item on the internet saying Tommy Lee Jones is working on a movie adaptation of Blood Meridian, in Which He Will star and direct. I do not know if this is just a rumor, or if anyone can do Blood Meridian Justice Now that Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone are dead, but I am still hoping it is true. (Mr. Jones, if you ever read this, may I suggest the band 16 Horsepower for the musical score.) So, For Those of you who wonder about the character of Judge Holden, here is a quote from a Texas State Historical Association website on Samuel Chamberlain, the man Whose memoir, My Confession, inspired to write McCarthy Blood Meridian: "In fact, many People who are skeptical of Sam's account Believe That Judge Holden what a character did Sam inserted into his story as geologists to afterthought Because He needed a villain That would outweigh even the evil Glanton. Some people think did Judge Holden what modeled after one of the Harvard named Nathaniel Southgate Chaler Because Sam after the Mexican War lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and what familiar with many Harvard professor. "
