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
Appears to be a very interesting read. However, it also appears much of it deals with Europe rather than the USA. The library has a couple of copies and I'll give it a look.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is largely European from what I can tell, although we have had our share of anarchists, spies, and Pinkertons, too. Like labor and other social-justice issues, these bigger picture questions tend to transcend national boundaries.
ReplyDeleteThere was another book on anarchism that I enjoyed sometime back called Demanding the Impossible,
ReplyDeletehttp://books.google.lt/books?id=QDWIOL_KtGYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=demanding+the+impossible&source=bl&ots=2iNuPNSqur&sig=x5ppy2IWlMcZfVf0zpYLgA-r3IE&hl=lt&ei=3f3pTNm2EY2VOu_53MoK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
It was quite exhaustive and even included a section on anarcho-capitalism and the policies of Reagan and other Right Wing leaders.
Also worth noting is Homage to Catalonia, in which Orwell tells of the promising but all too short anarchism experiment in Barcelona.
ReplyDeleteMore specifically,
ReplyDeleteAnarchism in America,
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/anarchism-in-america/
What I think _may_ be of interest is his contrasting the methods of the Pinkertons et al. with those they were allegedly protecting the country from. But I haven't read this one yet, so not sure.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the film link, Gintaras. Another one for these long winter nights -- we're in a blizzard situation up here now, so it's time to start watching movies again.
ReplyDelete