just read Lonesome Dove and casting about for things that grapple with it and Blood Meridian being published in the same year. came across this (which I generally liked) but it asserts that Westerns no longer dominate the American mind and I have quibbles
A Tale of Two WesternsThe harsh violence of Blood Meridian and Lonesome Dove draw us in more than it repels, and the proximity of death makes the actions of its dramatis personae only more vivid and compelli...hedgehogreview.com