A Great Plains Reader
The land of linear horizons, the Great Plains summon imagination from any writer who would set a poem, novel, or essay in them. From the explorers, settlers, and Native Americans who have done so, the editors anchor this anthology with famous scriveners such as James Fenimore Cooper, Willa Cather, and Louise Erdrich, as well as a wealth of authors far less famed. No matter the author's reputation, the vast and capricious land influences every piece here, which Quantic and Hafen arrange in conventional groupings. A straight-up look-of-the-land section opens the volume, exemplified by a passage from William Least Heat-Moon's wonderful, deep-drillingPrairyErth(1991). The experience of the Plains Indians is represented not only by the classic writings of Black Elk but also by powerful recollections of the vanished life by Zitkala-Sa, active in the early 1900s. With a section on literature inspired by the settler experience (e.g., O. E. Rolvaag's novels), this treasury contains more than 100 excerpted selections. Well worth a library's consideration despite its expense.Gilbert TaylorCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.