Dream a little
Subtitle: land and social justice in modern America
By: Dorothee E. Kocks.
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 255
Subjects: Johnson, Josephine Winslow, 1910- -- Political and social views; Sandoz, Mari, 1896-1966 -- Political and social views; Baker, Ella, 1903-1986 -- Political and social views; American fiction -- 20th century -- History and criticism; Landscape in literature; Literature and society -- West (U.S.) -- History -- 20th century; Women and literature -- West (U.S. -- History -- 20th century; Social justice -- West (U.S.) -- History -- 20th century; American fiction -- Women authors -- History and criticism; Landscape -- West (U.S.) -- History -- 20th century; West (U.S.) -- Historiography; West (U.S.) -- In literature
Description: In this innovative and exciting synthesis of historical analysis, literary criticism, and personal essay, Dorothee E. Kocks explores the links between place and political ideals in the twentieth century, focusing in particular on the iconography of the American West. Dream a Little explores the American tradition of using the land to reveal and elaborate our dreams for social justice.

Writing with a novelist's sensitivity toward language, Kocks explores the idea that Americans have historically looked to the land for answers to society's problems. To illustrate this point, she shows that the frontier state with its homestead program was actually the predecessor of the modern welfare state. Instead of money, the federal government gave away land. Kocks shows how we have "forgotten" the politics and history behind this giveaway and unravels the significance of this forgetting for our national consciousness.

In the second half of the book, Kocks journeys into three symbolic landscapes: the West, the family farm, and the small community. She looks at these landscapes through the eyes of writers Mari Sandoz and Josephine Johnson, and civil rights activist Ella Baker. Interweaving her own life experiences in this analysis, she traces the relationship between geography and democracy, and of the hopes we attach to the West.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-242) and index.