RACE, RELIGION, AND POPULAR CULTURE IN THE 1960s: THE ACTUALITY OF THOMAS BERGER AND ISHMAEL REED’S POST-WESTERNS

The New Western and/or Post-Western of the 1960s1 parodied the patterns of characterization of the classic western beyond recognition to serve a double purpose. It breathed fresh air into the ?exhausted? genre by providing more intriguing western histories (lower case), on the one hand, and revitalised novel writing at a time when the novel was pronounced ?dead?, 2 on the other hand. Likewise, Ishmael Reed?s Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down (1969) and Thomas Berger?s Little Big Man (1964) contribute immensely to the afore-mentioned ?mission? and beyond. What?s more, written at the height of the ?counter-culture revolution?, they both undertake to question and uproot preconceived absolutes and media-based realities regarding race, religion, and indigenous cultures by reviving the resourcefulness of Afro-American and Indian heritage.