Perhaps the biggest social concern in Lonesome Dove, which critic Mark Horowitz calls "the War and Peace of cattle-drive novels," is that of the "dying West"— the West that Gus and Call, two aging ex-Texas Rangers, remember from the adventures of their youth. We see that the West of their imaginations is neither mythic nor romantic, but, rather, embodies more of a regret the two men have as they address the fact of their aging and their inability to change much of what has happened.

Another social issue is that of the law—though the West is becoming increasingly settled, there is no clear line demarcating the place where the law resides. July Johnson, an Arkansas sheriff, is ineffectual and reluctant; Woodrow Call, on the other hand, is absolutely sure if what is right and wrong; there is no hesitation when he and Gus...