Bernard DeVoto

Bernard DeVoto – Life, Work, and Legacy

Bernard Augustine DeVoto (1897–1955) was an American historian, essayist, novelist, critic, and conservationist. His richly written histories of the American West, his lifelong advocacy for public lands, and his influential literary voice earned him a lasting place in 20th-century letters.

Introduction

Bernard DeVoto was a singular figure in American letters: part historian, part environmental prophet, part cultural critic. Born in 1897 in Ogden, Utah, and passing away abruptly in 1955 in New York City, he produced a body of work that bridged popular history, essay, fiction, journalism, and conservation writing.

His most celebrated works focus on the American West—its exploration, settlement, and environmental challenges. Across the Wide Missouri, The Year of Decision: 1846, and The Course of Empire form a sort of trilogy that cemented his reputation as a major historian of the West.

Beyond history, DeVoto’s influence stretched into conservation, public lands policy, and cultural commentary. For nearly two decades he wrote The Easy Chair column in Harper’s Magazine, using it as a pulpit to advocate for wilderness protection, civil liberties, and critical engagement with American life.

Early Life and Education

Bernard Augustine DeVoto was born on January 11, 1897, in Ogden, Utah.

As a child, he was precocious—learning to read very early, and spending much time in the local Carnegie Free Library.

He entered the University of Utah, but after one year transferred to Harvard University around 1915, entering with the class of 1918. World War I service in the U.S. Army; afterward he returned to Harvard and completed his degree in 1920.

At Harvard he graduated with honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Early Career and Literary Beginnings

After Harvard, DeVoto taught briefly in Utah, then in 1922 accepted an appointment as English instructor at Northwestern University.

In 1927 he left Northwestern and moved with his wife, Avis (née MacVicar), to Massachusetts to attempt full-time writing, while occasionally teaching or holding editorial roles.

By 1932 he published his biography Mark Twain’s America, which helped establish him as a serious literary critic and authority on Mark Twain’s works. Harper’s Magazine which evolved into The Easy Chair (starting 1935) and lasted until his death.

From 1936 to 1938, DeVoto moved to New York, serving as editor of The Saturday Review of Literature.

One of his best-known early critical essays is “Genius Is Not Enough” (1936), a sharp critique of Thomas Wolfe’s approach to writing, which caused controversy and tension within literary circles.

Historical & Conservation Works

DeVoto’s reputation as a historian and environmental voice grew in the 1940s and 1950s. His major historical works include:

• The Year of Decision: 1846 (1943) — a narrative history of events leading to the Mexican-American War.

• Across the Wide Missouri (1947) — focused on the Rocky Mountain fur trade; it won the Pulitzer Prize for History (1948) and the Bancroft Prize.

• The Course of Empire (1952) — a sweeping history of exploration and settlement in the West. It won a National Book Award (1953).

He also edited The Journals of Lewis and Clark (1953).

In addition, he wrote essays, fiction, literary criticism, and even a humorous piece on cocktails, The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto.

Beyond books, DeVoto used his column platform to champion conservation of public lands, critique dam-building projects, and defend wilderness. He often opposed overdevelopment and political forces seeking to privatize or exploit national parks and forests.

In the 1950s, DeVoto even advised political figures: Adlai Stevenson consulted him on the Democratic platform’s natural resources and environmental policies.

Style, Themes & Influence

Literary and Historical Style

• DeVoto’s prose is known for its clarity, energy, and rhetorical force. He sought to write history as narrative, engaging both general readers and scholars.

• He often wove together cultural critique, personal reflection, and moral urgency into his essays and historical works.

• He was not reluctant to be provocative; he engaged debates, criticized institutions, and confronted political pressures.

Themes

• The American West — exploration, frontier, environmental tension, interaction with Native peoples

• Conservation & public lands — DeVoto believed that the West’s natural heritage was a national trust, not a commodity

• Cultural identity and the myth of the West — he probed how America’s self-image and historical narrative depend on choices about land use

• Freedom, dissent, and intellectual responsibility — he defended free speech during McCarthyism and criticized ideological suppression

• Integration of moral purpose and historical scholarship — he thought historical writing should carry an ethical dimension

His activism and writing made him a pivotal figure in mid-20th-century American environmental thought—sometimes called “the nation’s environmental conscience” between the eras of Theodore Roosevelt and Rachel Carson.

Personal Life & Challenges

In 1923, Bernard DeVoto married Avis MacVicar (later Avis DeVoto), who played a significant role in his career as editor, confidante, and collaborator.

They had two sons, Mark (b. 1940), a music theorist and composer, and Gordon, a writer (who died in 2009).

DeVoto’s outspoken style sometimes earned him critics. During the 1950s, amid anti-Communist fervor, he was accused of being sympathetic to communism and criticized publicly by a U.S. congressman.

On November 13, 1955, DeVoto suffered a fatal heart attack and died in New York City at the age of 58.

His ashes were scattered over public lands in the West, in a symbolic affirmation of his lifelong commitment to wilderness preservation.

Selected Quotations

While DeVoto was more known for extended essays than pithy quotes, here are a few reflective lines and themes drawn from his writings and public remarks:

• On conservation:

  “We are dividing into the hunted and the hunters.”

• On wilderness and public lands:
  His essays in Harper’s frequently argued that the West belongs to all, not to the exploiters.

• On literary craft (from “Genius Is Not Enough”):
  He insisted that raw talent without craftsmanship leads to narrative clutter and weak structure.

Lessons from Bernard DeVoto

1. Write with purpose. DeVoto believed that history and literature should engage moral questions—not just recount facts.

2. Bridge scholarship and activism. He shows how deep historical understanding can inform public policy and public values.

3. Defend intellectual freedom. Even in politically fraught times, he stood against censorship and ideological conformity.

4. Cultivate dual fluencies. He wrote across genres—history, fiction, essays—and moved between scholarly and popular audiences.

5. Wilderness is not optional. His life argues that conservation is integral to national identity—not merely a hobby or external cause.

Legacy & Influence

• DeVoto was the first person from Utah to win a Pulitzer Prize, for Across the Wide Missouri.

• His Western trilogy is still read and cited by historians of the American West.

• His conservation writings helped shape mid-century discourse on public lands, and he remains a reference point in environmental history.

• Scholars continue to rehabilitate and revisit his writing; recent biographies (e.g. This America of Ours) explore his role in environmentalism and cultural politics.

• In his hometown, efforts (e.g., Weber State’s “Year of DeVoto” in 2022) aim to revive public awareness of his legacy.

DeVoto remains a model of a public intellectual who refused to compartmentalize scholarship, activism, and literary craft.