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"Nearly forty essays about the history, geography, geology, ecology, and conservation of the Nebraska Sandhills, supplemented by numerous remarkable photos of the region"--
Mari Sandoz, born on Mirage Flats, south of Hay Springs, Nebraska, on May 11, 1896, was the eldest daughter of Swiss immigrants. She experienced firsthand the difficulties and pleasures of the family's remote plains existence and early on developed a strong desire to write. Her keen eye for detail combined with meticulous research enabled her to become one of the most valued authorities of her time on the history of the plains and the culture of Native Americans. Women in the Writings of Mari Sandoz is the first volume of the Sandoz Studies series, a collection of thematically grouped essays that feature writing by and about Mari Sandoz and her work. When Sandoz wrote about the women she knew and studied, she did not shy away from drawing attention to the sacrifices, hardships, and disappointments they endured to forge a life in the harsh plains environment. But she also wrote about moments of joy, friendship, and--for some--a connection to the land that encouraged them to carry on. The scholarly essays and writings of Sandoz contained in this book help place her work into broader contexts, enriching our understanding of her as an author and as a woman deeply connected to the Sandhills of Nebraska.
In this richly insightful survey that represents the culmination of decades of research, a leading western specialist argues that the unique history of the American West did not end in the year 1900, as is commonly assumed, but was shaped as much--if not more--by events and innovations in the twentieth century. Earl Pomeroy gathers copious information on economic, political, social, intellectual, and business issues, thoughtfully evaluates it, and draws a new and more nuanced portrait of the West than has ever been depicted before. Pomeroy mines extensive published and unpublished sources to show how the post-1900 West charted a path that was influenced by, but separate from, the rest of the country and the world. He deals not only with the West's transition from an agricultural to an urban region but also with the important contributions of minority racial and ethnic groups and women in that transformation. Pomeroy describes a modern West--increasingly urban, transnational, and multicultural--that has overcome much of the isolation that challenged it at an earlier time. His final book is nothing short of the definitive source on that West.
Charles Barron McIntosh has devoted a lifetime of scholarship to the history of human activity on Nebraska’s Sand Hills, the spare, beautiful land that occupies much of western Nebraska. From carefully deciphering Native American occupancy through rigorous analysis of thousands of arrowheads, to patiently combing through decades of courthouse land title transaction records, McIntosh has mastered the sweep of centuries of human interaction with the land. We learn how the land shapes humankind, far more than pride would have us believe, and we see that perhaps our real success lies in learning how to live with the land, rather than attempting to master it. The Nebraska Sand Hills reflects McIntosh’s lifetime of learning, reading, questioning, analyzing—in short, everything it means to be a scholar; seldom are these efforts so well demonstrated. His affection for this unique landscape is present on every page.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Richard A. Serrano's new book American Endurance: Buffalo Bill, the Great Cowboy Race of 1893, and the Vanishing Wild West is history, mystery, and Western all rolled into one. In June 1893, nine cowboys raced across a thousand miles of American prairie to the Chicago World's Fair. For two weeks they thundered past angry sheriffs, governors, and Humane Society inspectors intent on halting their race. Waiting for them at the finish line was Buffalo Bill Cody, who had set up his Wild West Show right next to the World's Fair that had refused to allow his exhibition at the fair. The Great Cowboy Race occurred at a pivotal moment in our nation's history: many believed the frontier was settled and the West was no more. The Chicago World's Fair represented the triumph of modernity and the end of the cowboy age. Except no one told the cowboys. Racing toward Buffalo Bill Cody and the gold-plated Colt revolver he promised to the first to reach his arena, nine men went on a Wild West stampede from tiny Chadron, Nebraska, to bustling Chicago. But at the first thud of hooves pounding on Chicago's brick pavement, the race devolved into chaos. Some of the cowboys shipped their horses part of the way by rail, or hired private buggies. One had the unfair advantage of having helped plan the route map in the first place. It took three days, numerous allegations, and a good old Western showdown to sort out who was first to Chicago, and who won the Great Cowboy Race.
This atlas examines nearly every aspect of the natural history of the Nebraska Sand Hills, including Indian occupation, settlement, current range practices & the "cow-country" lifestyle. These 19,300 square miles comprise the largest dune area in the Western Hemisphere. The grass-stabilized dunes, some as high as 400 feet & as long as 20 miles, were formed by blowing sand during a surprisingly recent time, mostly the last 8,000 years. The climate ranges from subhumid in the east to semiarid in the west. The area is an ecological meeting ground, where species from different vegetative & faunal regions coexist, creating distinctive biological communities. The sandy soils & underlying sands & gravels have allowed for the accumulation of a vast quantity of groundwater, much of which "outcrops" at the surface. This accounts for another unique characteristic: the dry, dune-top prairie ecosystem beside a wetland, lake, or constantly flowing stream. "But this atlas is much more than an explanation of the climate & geology of the Sand Hills. Illustrated with wonderful color photos, fold-out maps, graphs & numerous charts, the book explores the entire ecology of the Sand Hills," said Francis Moul in his review for the DES MOINES REGISTER.
"No one has done before what Athearn has done in this volume. He has utilized company records and a variety of other sources to write a very attractive and readable, but scholarly account of the impact of the Union Pacific and its branch line son the country it served from the 1860s to the 1890s. . . . Everyone from railroad buffs to Western history scholars will like the book."--Choice. "This highly readable book is an excellent history of the heart-breaking efforts to build the Union Pacific into a viable enterprise before the end of the nineteenth century. . . . Throughout this attractive reprint edition, Athearn provides insights and fresh perspectives not only on the Union Pacific but on other railroads in the West and their significance in frontier America."--David Dary, Overland Journal. "A superb contribution by a master historian, Union Pacific Country is a model chapter in the epic story of how the American West was penetrated, settled, and developed with the aid of steam and iron. The research is massive; the writing style is inviting; the photographs, maps, and documents are helpful; and the story is compelling."--Journal of the West. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad: Rebel of the Rockies by Robert G. Athearn is also available.
The Nebraska Sandhills is the largest area of sand dunes in the western hemisphere, covering an area about as large as Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island combined. Unlike most dunes, the Sandhills region supports an astonishing variety of wildlife. Sixty million years ago the area lay submerged in a vast inland sea. As the land lifted and the waters receded, the sandhills were formed, built upon a sandy floor above a sandy basement. Paul A. Johnsgard's appreciation for the region includes its evolution, a process that continues today making a very special place, patiently shaped by water, wind, and time. Sometimes 450 feet higher than their sloping valleys, the hills themselves are almost entirely covered with plants that manage to survive on an unstable substrate and in a climate of merciless heat and cold. They provide homes and resting places for rare species and sustain the livelihoods of a remarkable variety of people. Though firmly established in science, this book is an extended love letter to the Sandhills region and its people, plants, and animals. Johnsgard is now in his third decade of research in the Sandhills. This Fragile Land lets others see what he sees, a land with a fascinating range of geological, biological, and ecological vistas. Paul A. Johnsgard is Foundation Professor of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Widely published throughout the English-speaking world, he has become a foremost authority on ornithology and bird behavior. His thirty-three books include Birds of the Great Plains, The Platte, Birds of the Rocky Mountains, Those of the Gray Wind, and Diving Birds of North America, all available from the University ofNebraska Press.