Cultural History Commons^™

Review Of The Northern Cheyenne Exodus In History And Memory By James N. Leiker And Ramon Powers, Alan Boye

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In 1878, about 350 Northern Cheyennes fled captivity in Indian Territory, in what is now Oklahoma, in an attempt to return to their homeland in present-day Montana. Before long, thousands of soldiers involving three departments of the U.S. Army, dozens of cowboys, a number of pioneer families, and such mythic figures as Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp were swept up in the event.

The Cheyennes successfully withstood several battles with the army on their flight. For much of the distance, they paused only long enough to steal horses and food; but, while crossing northwestern Kansas, a number of the Cheyennes …

Review Of Engaged Resistance: American Indian Art, Literature, And Film From Alcatraz To The Nmai By Dean Rader, Beverly R. Singer

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

This study is a wholehearted exploration of artistic and cultural production engaging the theme of American Indian resistance, perhaps going further than previous American Indian art forums in print with a thematic analysis. Rader organizes an inventory of the creative process of resistance (against extinction, misrepresentation, and debasement) by detailing in chapter 2 artistic works-including Jaune Quick-to-See Smith's large painted canvases denoting maps of Indigenous-named states in the U.S.-that Rader says represent a resistance to settler society's seizings and its attempted erasure of Natives while simultaneously claiming their continued presence.

Review Of Texas Through Women's Eyes: The Twentieth-Century Experience By Judith N. Mcarthur And Harold L. Smith, Jean A. Stuntz

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Texas Through Women's Eyes tells the story of twentieth-century Texans who are mostly left out of Texas history texts. Including women of all races and social classes, the book is arranged to make it especially useful for college classes, but is written in a manner non-academics can enjoy. Each of its four chronological parts (1900-1920, 1920-1945, 1945-1965, and 1965-2000) begins with a lively narrative broken down into several topics, accompanied by a suggested reading list, and ends with a selection of documents pertaining closely to the narrative.

Part 1, "Social Reform and Suffrage in the Progressive Era, 1900-1920," effectively links …

Review Of Empire Of The Summer Moon: Quanah Parker And The Rise And Fall Of The Comanches, The Most Powerful Indian Tribe In American History By S. C. Gwynne, Joseph A. Stout Jr.

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

By 1836, white settlement had moved steadily westward into the Southern Plains, confronting nomadic Indians and leading to increasing violence between the two. When Nokoni Comanches that year attacked Fort Parker-a stockaded fort in east central Texas-they killed or captured white settlers, nine-year-old Cynthia Ann Parker numbered among them. Parker survived to become the wife of Peta Nocona, a Comanche warrior known for his hatred of whites and ferocity in battle. She bore him children, including Quanah Parker.

Review Of Working The Land: The Stories Of Ranch And Farm Women In The Modern American West By Sandra K. Schackel, Mary Zeiss Stange

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In 1995 Sandra Schackel, then professor of history at Boise State University, was asked to contribute a chapter about rural women's experiences to an anthology on the post World War II American West. The research Schackel accumulated for that chapter, largely in the form of interviews of farm- and ranchwives, provided the foundation for this slender volume. It is a foundation upon which she did relatively little to build. While her oral historical approach suggests some tantalizing avenues for further exploration, they remain for the most part rural roads not taken.

Review Of Empires, Nations, And Families: A History Of The North American West, 1800-1860 By Anne F. Hyde, Walter Nugent

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

This extraordinary book is a recasting and retelling of virtually the entire history of the trans-Mississippi West from 1804 to about 1860. Its solid source foundation ranges from early fur-trade documents to the most recent monographs. It is amply illustrated with rarely seen visuals from many archives and replete with scores of real women and men-AngloAmerican, French, Native, and Metis. The focus is on family connections-marital, sexual, social, economic-and the crossing of racial boundaries and networks. Women are never absent, and their agency is evident. Every chapter opens with a vignette about a family member-man, woman, or child.

Review Of Writing In Dust: Reading The Prairie Environmentally By Jenny Kerber, Aubrey Streit Krug

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

When do the prairies begin in history? And are they now in danger of ending? Jenny Kerber notes that settler cultures have relied upon two narratives to understand the Great Plains of North America. The first is about how history begins on the prairie when it is recultivated as an Edenic garden; the second is about how that garden falls from grace into a barren wasteland.

Kerber opens up these Western, Christian traditions for interdisciplinary critique. By considering ecological, feminist, Indigenous, and other marginalized perspectives, she explores "how different stories might contribute to a vision of sustainable dwelling on the …

Review Of All Indians Do Not Live In Teepees (Or Casinos) By Catherine C. Robbins, Bruce E. Johansen

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Catherine C. Robbins's highly personal tour of contemporary Indian Country begins with a moving description of 2,000 sets of human remains being returned from Harvard University "to the people of the Pecos Pueblo and their kin at Jemez" in 1999. The book then degenerates into a long rant of pet peeves that annoy its author.

Robbins's portrait of Indian casinos is not flattering (their glitziness spoils reservation vistas, she says). She doesn't think Indians dignify themselves by lecturing whites about sovereignty. In Robbins's view, Indians practicing their hunting and fishing rights under treaties bring an unwelcome din to the streams …

Review Of Women Writers Of The American West, 1833-1927 By Nina Baym, Jim Hoy

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The Great Plains, particularly in pioneer times, has been described as a place that was good for men and dogs but hell on women and horses, a notion that could be extended to the American West as a whole. In other words, the West was a man's country, initially explored by men, settled by men, written about by men. Nina Baym, however, well documents the inaccuracy of this last point in Women Writers of the American West.

Following an introductory chapter, nine chapters divide the West into nine geographic regions, each of these offering brief descriptions of the hundreds of …

Review Of West Of 98: Living And Writing The New American West Edited By Lynn Stegner And Russell Rowland, Matthew J. C. Cella

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

West of 98 is an ambitious and comprehensive collection of personal essays and poems by over sixty contributors who work to define the parameters of the American West: the vast and complex region west of the 98th meridian. As Lynn Stegner explains in the collection's introduction, the goal of the book is to offer a "Greek chorus that might define, remark upon, and otherwise characterize the West as each of [the writers] grew to know it, and equally important, the West that is still becoming." The chorus of voices featured in the collection reflects a broad range of cultural and …

Review Of State Of Minds: Texas Culture And Its Discontents By Don Graham, Ken Baake

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Don Graham sets out in State of Minds to address two threats he sees to the literary landscape of Texas: one, the perception that Texas culture, if it exists at all, is inconsequential and "lowbrow"; and, two, that college students even within Texas are becoming illiterate in regards to their state's rich heritage of creative fiction and nonfiction writing and film. The book succeeds on both counts, reminding readers familiar with the canon of how much fun it is to enter the world of Texas's written and film literature and how much one can learn from it about the timeless …

Great Plains Quarterly Volume 32 / Number 2 / Spring 2012

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Contents

Book Reviews

Notes and News

Farm Women, Solidarity, And The Suffrage Messenger Nebraska Suffrage Activism On The Plains, 1915-1917, Carmen Heider

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In the weeks and months following the November 3, 1914, vote on the Nebraska suffrage amendment, activists picked up the pieces after male voters for the third time defeated the proposition in their state. Thomas Coulter explains that in the days leading up to the vote, ''A feeling of impending victory suffused the hearts of pro-suffrage workers," but in the days after, "a sense of shock was widespread."¹ The vote had been close: 90,738 for the Nebraska amendment and 100,842 against it.² In fact, Attorney General Willis Reed later stated that had there been a recount, the amendment …

Review Of The Big Empty: The Great Plains In The Twentieth Century By R. Douglas Hurt, Thomas G. Andrews

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The Big Empty: The Great Plains in the Twentieth Century endeavors to synthesize a history that is as almost as vast and challenging as the region itself. Not surprisingly, R. Douglas Hurt succeeds most fully when addressing his specialty, agricultural history. Less masterful but still effective are the book's sections concerning energy development, Plains Indians, Latinos, and political economy. The Big Empty has little to say, by contrast, about shifting perceptions of the Plains, the decline of railroads, and the rise of federal highways, while Hurt's insistence on the fundamental stasis of the Plains environment seems to contradict the many …

Not Your Family Farm Apiculture In South,Central Montana, Miles Lewis

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The rolling prairies and sheltering mountain ranges of the Upper Musselshell Valley in Montana are nearly perfect for cattle and sheep grazing. Some areas, more topographically similar to the Great Plains than to the mountainous West, are (at least in wet years) highly conducive to growing alfalfa or wheat. Overall, the pastoral setting calls to mind images of weathered cowboys, grizzled sheepherders, and stoic farmers. However, closer inquiry into the region's agriculture reveals that cattle and wheat are by no means the only product being harvested from the land. Found buzzing around flowering foliage or swarming the rearing hindquarters of …

The Forgotten Sixty-Ninth: The Sixty-Ninth New York National Guard Artillery Regiment In The American Civil War, Christopher M. Garcia

History Theses & Dissertations

In Civil War historiography, consistent attention and public interest has illuminated the history of various Irish organizations, no regiment more so than New York's famed "Fighting Sixty-Ninth." During the conflict, the State of New York fielded three regiments designated the Sixty-Ninth, but the scholarship has tended to favor just one of them, the 69'" New York Volunteers of the Irish Brigade. The 69" New York National Guard Artillery, the first regiment in General Michael Corcoran's Irish Legion, has been virtually forgotten. This regiment was, in essence, the standing 69ia New York Militia in federal service for three years or the …

The Grizzly, March 29, 2012, Nick Pane, Liz Kilmer, Samantha Mascia, Sara Hourwitz, Lisa Jobe, Melissa Rutkowski, Sophie Zander, Olivia Minick, Riley Pembroke, Sarah Bollert, Victoria Cameron, Jane Helmick, Keith Baker

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Airband Benefits Crime Victims Center • Blues Writer Sharon Bridgforth Reads Work • Gilmore Visits Berman Art Museum • UC Recyclemania Holds Green Day Carnival • Alabama Civil Rights Trip was Living History for Students • Rosati Embraces Opportunity at Frederick Living • Greek Week in Progress, Helps to Unite UC Sororities and Fraternities • Opinion: Trayvon Martin Case is a Wake-Up Call • Ursinus Celebrates St. Patrick's Weekend • Player Spotlight: Amanda Laurito, Track and Field • Rugby Continues Building Tradition • Senior Spotlight: Jeff Ocampo, Men's Lacrosse

Kingdom Comin': The Largest Slave Rebellion In U.S. History, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Over at Present in the Past, Michael Lynch recently posted a provocative question and accompanying video about slave revolt. It got the wheels in my head turning. It also helped that Monday night was my first lecture scheduled on my course syllabus to dig into the "political war." My mind's been swimming with concepts of violence and resistance, freedom and slavery.

Your Fortune: Fried Rice And John Brown, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I had Chinese food Sunday night and it got me thinking. I know that's a very random thing to say, but it's the truth. We don't usually consider Chinese food to be brain food, but for me it can be very powerful stuff. I like the stuff they serve up from the back of the Giant Supermarket here in town. The people who work the counter are always very nice and it tastes just clean enough. I like a bit of mystery in my pork fried rice. [excerpt]

The Grizzly, March 22, 2012, Nick Pane, Liz Kilmer, James Noebels, Melissa Rutkowski, Lisa Jobe, Lauren Goldstein, Samantha Mascia, Taylor Sparks, Sophie Zander, Sarah Bollert, Tracie Johnson, Kyu Chul Shin, Allen Weaver, Keith Baker, Shane Eachus

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Ursinus Remembers Sam Morgan • Senior Gift Drive Seeking Support • Professional Women Advise UC Students • AmeriCorps Reps Visit • SIFE's Green Team Teaches Children to Recycle • Ursinus Mock Trial Team Competes for First Time • Rutkowski Interns in McGladrey's RAS Department • UC Bonner Leaders Visit Jamaica for Service Trip • Opinion: College Meme Pages Aren't a Waste; New Bruce Springsteen Lives Up to Expectations • Softball Prepped for Successful Season • March Provides Viewers Maddening Options • Gymnastics Heading to Nationals

Interpretive Vernacular: Pop Culture Is A Language, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

I trust people who sound like me. I trust people who speak the same language as me. Part of this comes from a simple fact of understanding. I speak very little Spanish, even less French.

But I also speak other languages, and trust people who speak to me in those languages. [excerpt]

Naccs 39th Annual Conference, National Association For Chicana And Chicano Studies

NACCS Conference Programs

NACCS@40 Celebrating Scholarship and Activism
March 14-17, 2012
Palmer House Hilton

Confederates In The Dorm: Hidden In Plain Sight, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

You can imagine the terror in the young 21-year-old's eyes as he realized who was charging down the Cashtown Pike into Gettysburg on the 26th of June. You can feel the chill that might have run down his spine as he realized that the rebel army he had deserted, the one he had escaped by running to the Federal lines, was crashing down upon him again. And the deserter's fate during this war was simple: execution. [excerpt]

Meaningless Landscapes Yield Meaningless Graffiti: Are We All To Blame?, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

It is a juvenile bit of graffiti. Someone has slathered spray paint across the chest and mustache of one of those iconic Gettysburg monuments: the 2nd company, Andrews (Massachusetts) Sharpshooters monument along "the Loop" just to the west of the Wheatfield. The news hist Facebook for me yesterday afternoon, when local historian and house history sleuth Kendra Debany posted the shocking photo on her wall. The kneeling figure now has two cartoonish blue female breasts and a blue handlebar adorning his lip. It is ridiculous. It is uncalled for. [excerpt]

The Grizzly, March 1, 2012, Nick Pane, Liz Kilmer, Melissa Rutkowski, James Noebels, Lisa Jobe, Sara Hourwitz, Julia Fox, Sarah Bollert, Valentina Alonso-Gough, Riley Pembroke, Allen Weaver, Pearl Steinberg, Keith Baker, Victoria Cameron, Shane Eachus

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Grasso Hosts Leadership Summit • Board Meets on Diversity Reports • Psychology Major Organizes Autism Discussion • Lt. Gen. Helmick of the US Army to Speak on Campus Tonight at 7 P.M. • Murphy-Stout Interns at South London Hospital • EV Premieres "On the Edge" • Kelly Herr Competes in Special Olympics in Korea • Opinion: Republicans Need Focus to Win • International Trio Dazzles Students and Faculty • Senior Spotlight: Al Desiderio, Men's Track • Spring Break in Florida for Bears Baseball • Championship Weekend Recap

The Grizzly, February 23, 2012, Nick Pane, Liz Kilmer, Caroline Edler, James Noebels, Samantha Mascia, Lisa Jobe, Michael Schmidt, Sophie Zander, Sarah Bollert, Lauren Goldstein, Melissa Rutkowski, Anna Larouche, Anjali Patel, Victoria Cameron, Matthew Johnston, Shane Eachus

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Dates for Charity Event Breaks Record • Student Curates New Berman Exhibition • MajorPalooza Highlights Options • Grenade Found on, Removed From Campus • Judge Scirica Speaks to Ursinus • Emery Finds Internship at Career Services Fair • "Two Artist Talks" • Sankofa Umoja Nia Revitalized • Opinion: How to be Both a Woman and Funny; Controversial YouTube Video Causes Laughter, Reaction • Swimming Sets New Standards at Championships • Men's Basketball Sets Off Triad of Seniors • Women's Track Poised for Championship Run

History Not Hokum: Learning From Specters, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

What are we to make of those who literally try to raise the dead at our nation's historical locations? Can ghost tours ever be a successful medium (pun intended) for interpretation? [excerpt]

Practical Necromancy: Raising The Dead For Fun & Profit, John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Our profession is a unique and somewhat strange one. We are paid, fundamentally, to give voice to the voiceless. History is taking the people of the past and breathing into their lungs, letting them speak and act again even though they are long dead. [excerpt]

The Grizzly, February 16, 2012, Liz Kilmer, Nick Pane, Sara Hourwitz, Samantha Mascia, Lisa Jobe, Olivia Minick, James Noebels, Connor Gregory, Lauren Goldstein, Sarah Bollert, Anjali Patel, Taylor Sparks, Victoria Cameron, Matthew Johnston, Keith Baker

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

Professor Debuts "A Bright Swarm of Beetles" • SPINTfest Offers Alternative Housing Options • S.U.N.'s Poetry Slam Entertains with a Variety of Guests • Commencement Awards to be Chosen by Students • UC Roller Hockey Program is Looking to Expand and Improve with New Recruits • UC Students Aid Spring-Ford School District after Tragic Suicide • Neuman Interns as Education Coordinator in Lancaster, PA • Opinion: Valentine's Day Hype is Overblown; Celebrate February 14 Regardless of Relationship Status • Coach Profile: Joe Groff, Women's Volleyball • Senior Spotlight: Lindsay Teuber, Women's Basketball • Senior Wrestlers Exemplify Leadership, Excellence

A Letter Of Man: "And What Is 'Truth'?", John M. Rudy

Interpreting the Civil War: Connecting the Civil War to the American Public

Have you seen the letter making the rounds on the internet? It's been tough not to see the letter in the past week or so. And it certainly is powerful and meaningful. Jordan Anderson has struck a chord with modern audiences nearly 150 years after he dictated a snide and sarcastic letter to his former master. Reading over the former slave's word, it feels like he tailored his tone for the tongue-in-cheek, breezy style of the virtual world. [excerpt]