In Review: Great Plains



 

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~ “Away to the Great Plains of America, to that immense Western short-grass prairie now mostly plowed under! Away to the still-empty land beyond newsstands and malls and velvet restaurant ropes!”

So begins Great Plains, the 1989 examination of America’s heartland. That vast inner expanse of plains and prairies that range from Canada in the north down to the Texas panhandle in the south. Stretching some 2500 miles in length, and about 600 miles across at their widest point, the Great Plains encompass parts of the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and parts of the American states of Montana, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Part history, part travelogue, part extended road trip, Great Plains has the grandeur and sweep of the frontier itself crammed into its concise 214 pages of main text – which is no mean feat, let me tell you.

By the time he wrote this book, Ian Frazier had driven some 25,000 miles on the plains – from Montana to Texas and back again. Twice. As well as many shorter distances. His meanderings took him from an abandoned anti-ballistic-missile system command centre in remote Montana, to the exact site of Bonny and Clyde’s automobile plunge into the Red River; from the location of Sitting Bull’s camp on the Grand River, to the site of Custer’s last stand on the Little Big Horn; from Fort Union in North Dakota, to Fort Stockton in Texas.

It is no accident that rivers feature so much in this book – even as peripheral ‘characters’. The Great Plains are at times so dry and barren that in the early years of exploration parts of them were known as the Great American Desert. It made sense for the early settlers – just like Native Americans – to build their forts and villages, their towns and cities along the banks of any river large enough to provide a source of life-giving water and food to the populace.

No accident too, that the history of conflict between Native American Indians and settlers crops up throughout Great Plains. Frazier manages to examine the slaughter of millions of bison, the betrayal and death of Crazy Horse, and meet and mix with numerous descendents of the great warriors of the past as he traverses this immense space.

All the great characters are here; ranchers and homesteaders, mountain men and fur trappers, outlaws and gangsters, cowboys and Indians, railroad barons, oil men, coal miners, and more. You get to meet the great and humble, the rich and poor, emigrant Germans and former Southern Black slaves, and the men and women who struggled for generations (and who still struggle today), to make some sort of living from the Great Plains.

Ian Frazier is clearly a man in love with the Great Plains, its history, and its immense cast of fabulous characters – both modern and ancient. As an introduction to this vast area of land and open space Great Plains is entertaining and informative, and filled with insight, obscure historical facts and references, and ultimately, immensely readable.

Finally, the book is well indexed, includes 16 pages of black and white photographs, and has almost 70 pages of extensive notes to supplement the main text. Highly recommended.

“This is a brilliant, funny, and altogether perfect book, soaked in research and then aired out on the open plains to evaporate the excess, leaving this modern masterpiece. It makes me want to get in a truck and drive straight out to North Dakota and look at the prairie.” —Garrison Keillor

Click here to purchase Great Plains via Amazon.Com...

Great Plains by Ian Frazier (First published: 1989, Penguin Books)

Now available in Picador (May 4, 2001) . ISBN-10: 0312278500

Also by Ian Frazier is the book On the Rez, billed by Amazon.Com as “…a history of the Oglala nation that spotlights our paleface population in some of its most shameful, backstabbing moments, as well as a quick tour through Indian America. Much of On the Rez revolves around Le War Lance, whom Frazier first met in Great Plains.”

Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (May 4, 2001). ISBN-10: 0312278594

NOTE: scroll through the Reading List box on the left to purchase On The Rez directly from Amazon.Com. You can also click on the In Review tag below to view other book reviews on this site.

The Week That Was #6

Welcome to my weekly collection of The Odd, The Useful, and The Downright Bizarre.

The Odd: Sinks Canyon, Wyoming. At Sinks Canyon State Park outside Lander, Wyoming a major river just disappears. The Middle Fork of the Popo Agie rushes out of Wyoming's largest mountain range, the Wind River Mountains, and into Sinks Canyon. It flows merrily along for quite some time until it suddenly turns into a large cave and, as the name of the park and canyon suggest, sinks underground. It isn't until ¼ of a mile later that the river re-emerges at a large, calm pool called "the Rise." Read more here…

The Useful: 10 Incredible Hotel Art Collections. What’s the first thing you see as you walk through a new hotel? You might say you’re simply looking for your room number but truth be told you’re seeing much more. Hotel halls and rooms around the world are lined with some of the most beautiful artwork available. So beautiful, in fact, that you might be just as entertained roaming the halls of your hotel as you would have been had you gone out and paid admittance to a local art museum. Not every hotel, of course, is famous for the artwork adorning its halls. Some, including those featuring works by Picasso, Warhol, and other famous artists, are obviously more well known. So in which hotels should you book your room if you want to see some incredible artwork? Read more here...

The Downright Bizarre: 21 of The World’s Most Bizarre Hotels. Sometimes the hotel is as much a destination as the city or attractions you’re planning on visiting. Hotels such as the Daspark Hotel in Austria which has rooms inside drainpipes (see image above). Apparently, you can name your own price for staying in this hotel, which offers three mini guest rooms that include a bedside table, a lamp, and a double bed. To see a collection of 21 strange and bizarre hotels click here... http://blog.ratestogo.com/bizarre-hotels/ and here... http://blog.ratestogo.com/most-bizarre-hotels/

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And just for laughs: The RVer's* Fishy Story

An RVer named Stanley was stopped recently by a game warden in Northern California as he was returning to his motorhome with a bucket full of live fish. "Do you have a license to catch those fish?" the game warden asked. The man replied, "No, sir. These are my pet fish."

"Pet fish?" the warden asked. "Yes, sir. Every night I take these fish down to the lake where I'm camped and let them swim around for awhile. When they hear my whistle, they jump right back into the bucket and I take them back to the motorhome."

"That's a bunch of baloney," the game warden said as he reached for his pad of citations. The man looked at the game warden for a moment and then said, "If you don't believe me, then follow me back to the lake to see how it works."

Still suspicious, but curious, the game warden agreed. And so they walked to the lake. There, the man poured the fish into the water, where they disappeared. "Okay," said the game warden. "Call them back."

"Call who back?"

"The fish," replied the warden.

"What fish?" asked the man.

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*RV = Recreational Vehicle

Found online at RV Jokes.Com…

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Wherever you are, whatever you are doing – enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Friday Photo #4: London Gargoyle

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London is full of buildings that were constructed in an age when owners where not just interested in throwing up any old edifice, but wanted buildings that would last. Buildings with character. Buildings with charm and personality. Buildings that appealed with their unique individuality.

Imagine the amount of time, effort and craftsmanship – not to mention, money – that went into creating the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of gargoyles adorning thousands of buildings across Britain, and indeed the rest of the world. Will we ever see their like again? Which entrepreneur today; which Board of Directors; which construction magnate will direct their architects to design buildings that are not just functional – but aesthetically pleasing, not just to their owners, shareholders and users, but for generations to come?

Whose imagination sparked this cheeky gargoyle? Whose skilled hands wielded the tools and materials to craft this one individual character? This one, out of countless millions?

Did the artisan delight in the shape and form of this creature? Did he find – or hide – some deeper meaning in its pose and expression? Was he offering a not so subtle comment on the wealth and standing of the building’s owner? It’s eventual occupants?

We will never know. We are left forever to wonder and speculate. And finally, to appreciate and enjoy.

Location: Building façade in Carmelite Street, London, EC4

Photographer: Jim Lesses, September 30, 2008

Note: Click on image to view full size.