It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer. Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions. I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters. Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs. Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77. I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not. Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi
Been a great year. Thanks to everyone!
ReplyDeleteThanks Gintaras and everyone who has participated here.
ReplyDeleteLet them eat Cake!,Oh wait wrong revolution.It has been nice to come here and see civil discourse without the wackos and agenda bringers that took over Elba.Avrds I still haven't heard anything from HBC on the Apache book and it seems to be absent from the flyer this month.There is a shortage of it for some reason.
ReplyDelete"Let them eat Cake! Oh wait wrong revolution....." Yes that was the Reagan revolution!
ReplyDeleteBut as for the revolution here, people here love, read, and discuss books. Now that's revolutionary! What a great service Gintaras has done for us all.
As for Summer Moon, it must be a best seller after that rave review. Probably sold more than the publishers anticipated. Might want to try Amazon, where it's only $16 (even they have some sort of a delay, though):
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Summer-Moon-Comanches-Powerful/dp/1416591052/
Well I had already ordered from HBC online and was two days later they informed me of delay.Of course I meant to say Comanche book.Don't know where the Apache came from.My bad.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is great to have an outlet where you can learn, have fun, and exchange ideas without the usual @#$#@ that goes on in right wing forums. The one sad thing is that Bob W cannot participate because of his illness. Like you, I wish him a full and quick recovery. Let's hope we can all participate in this informative venue for a long time to come.
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"The Team of Rivals" discussion has had me on the lookout for other related books. I'm now reading Eric Foner's "Reconstruction, America's Unfinished Revolution: 1863-1877." It isn't a new publication by any means, but it's very good.
ReplyDeleteThat's an amazing book. As far as I know, it is still considered the gold standard on that topic. Foner is another one of my heroes.
ReplyDeleteThe Foner book is excellent. I would also recommend WEB Dubois' classic text on Reconstruction in the South, which was a prime source for Foner.
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