1967

1967 marks the publication and first critical reception of Thomas Savage’s The Power of the Dog, rather than its fictional chronology. The novel appeared in Boston from Little, Brown after Savage refused changes requested by his editor at Random House. Its reception was initially strong, but critical recognition did not translate into substantial sales.

Publication and Early Reception

The book received extremely good reviews and remained on The New York Times’ “New and Recommended” list for nearly two months. It was also optioned for film five times, though none of those options resulted in a film. These responses established an early reputation for the novel, even as its readership remained limited.

The Late-1960s Reviews

Reviewers in the late 1960s often acknowledged the book’s interior tragedy while avoiding its treatment of repressed homosexuality. Some reduced its conflicts to a contest between good and evil, cruelty and kindness, or compulsion and intelligence. An anonymous Publishers Weekly reviewer was a notable exception: despite objecting to the brutality of the opening, the reviewer identified Phil Burbank as a repressed homosexual, described how his treatment of George Burbank’s wife drives her into secret drinking, and recognized that Peter Gordon sees what is happening while forming a plan of revenge. The contrast between that reading and the more evasive reviews shows how the novel’s central subject could be obscured even amid praise.

Story Time and Historical Context

The year 1967 belongs to the novel’s publication history; its story is set in Utah in 1924. Its historical world includes the forced removal of Indigenous people from the valley and the rules governing life on the reservation, including restrictions on alcohol and travel without a permit. Edward Nappo and his son attempt to return toward their ancestral land, but Phil Burbank refuses them passage through the ranch. Distinguishing the story’s earlier setting from the book’s publication year matters: the novel’s account of dispossession is part of the world it depicts, not an event dated to 1967.

Reputation and Afterlife

The novel attracted descriptions such as a powerful tragedy and the year’s best novel; Roger Sale, writing in The Hudson Review, called it the finest single book he knew about the modern West. Yet it sold few copies. Emily Salkin of Little, Brown later said she could not imagine that hardcover sales had exceeded one thousand copies, while noting that the publisher’s sales records from 1967 were unavailable. The contrast between acclaim and limited circulation shaped the book’s later status as a neglected work: its 2001 republication offered it another opportunity to reach readers.