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Review Of The American West: A New Interpretive History By Robert V. Hine And John Mack Faragher, Keith Edgerton

Great Plains Quarterly

This is flat out the best, most inclusive, least partisan textbook on Western American history available to contemporary professionals and the general public. Lack of a suitable, comprehensive, apolemical text has long constrained teachers of Western US history; this one is something of an anomaly too: a textbook that is actually compelling to read.

The book is a substantial revision of Hine's 1984 The American West: An Interpretative History, second edition. It is comprehensive and capacious in its sweep-incorporating a great deal of important new scholarship on gender, the environment, ethnicity, and Native Americans-generous in detail, replete with superb …

Review Of George Washington Grayson And The Creek Nation, 1843-1920 By Mary Jane Warde, Michael D. Green

Great Plains Quarterly

Late in his long and illustrious life, George Washington Grayson wrote a memoir. W. David Baird edited and published it in 1988 under the title A Creek Warrior for the Confederacy. Grayson had written mostly about his service in the Civil War but included enough about his life as politician and businessman to suggest he would be an excellent candidate for a biography. Mary Jane Warde, who began this study as a graduate student under Baird's direction, has done her subject justice.

Warde says Grayson was a progressive nationalist and a cultural broker. Well-educated, he represents a type in …

Review Of Buffalo Soldiers And Officers Of The Ninth Cavalry, 1867-1898: Black & White Together By Charles L. Kenner, Tom Phillips

Great Plains Quarterly

Charles Kenner presents a vivid portrait of some of the men and officers of one of the four regiments of black enlisted men and mostly white officers in the post-Civil War army. This regimental cast runs the gamut from the dedicated and gallant to bigots and bullies. There is Colonel Edward Hatch, who commanded the Ninth for twenty-three years, and Major Guy V. Henry, a tireless cheerleader for the regiment and his own career. Here, too, are rankers "of all degrees of competence," such as Emanuel Stance, a Medal of Honor winner so hated he was probably murdered by fellow …

Review Of A Country In The Mind: Wallace Stegner, Bernard Devoto, History, And The American Land By John L. Thomas, Frank J. Popper

Great Plains Quarterly

John Thomas, a historian at Brown University, offers a conservation-focused portrait of two of the last century's most distinguished men of American Western letters, Bernard DeVoto (1897-1955) and Wallace Stegner (1909-1993). Both grew up amid the ambivalent legacy of the boomer frontier. Both became prolific historians, novelists, journalists, and public intellectuals with touchy ties to academia. Both rank among the creators of modern environmentalism.

Thomas's sharply written, often evocative account of their life, work, and friendship deals largely with their efforts to preserve the public domain-that is, the federal lands of the intermountain West, what Thomas calls the national commons. …

"When We Were First Paid" The Blackfoot Treaty, The Western Tribes, And The Creation Of The Common Hunting Ground, 1855, William E. Farr

Great Plains Quarterly

In mid-October of 1855, Blackfoot Treaty commissioner Isaac 1. Stevens, governor of Washington Territory and ex-officio its superintendent of Indian Affairs, and his co-commissioner Colonel Alfred Cumming, head of the Central Superintendency including Nebraska Territory, finally assembled the Blackfoot Peace Council just below the confluence of the Judith and Missouri Rivers. The federal government through the Office of Indian Affairs by then had already pieced together a new reservation policy for the West. This "new order of things," largely designed by Commissioner of Indian Affairs George Manypenny, hoped to reduce white conflicts with Indians, to prevent, if possible, expensive military …

Managing Bison To Restore Biodiversity, Joe C. Truett, Michael Phillips, Kyran Kunkel, Russell Miller

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Prior to their demise in the late 1800s, bison coexisted with and helped sustain a diverse and spectacular assemblage of animals and plant communities on the Great Plains. Bison, in concert with fire, exerted strong control on the structure of the vegetation by grazing, trampling, and wallowing. The changes in the vegetation induced changes in many animal populations. These impacts, coupled with the bison's role as the major converter of grass to meat, so greatly affected other species that some have called bison a "keystone" species in the Great Plains ecosystem. The black-tailed prairie dog, dependent on bison grazing over …

Review Of The American Robin By Roland H. Wauer, Laura Erickson

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Bookstore shelves bulge with bird books: field guides, feeding and birdhouse books, guides to hot spots, and books about individual families and species. One gaping hole in the body of bird literature has been a book about one of our most common and beloved songbirds, the American Robin. Robins nest in backyards and on buildings throughout much of the US and Canada and are one of the most familiar birds on the continent. A good book about them could fill an important niche.

Roland H. Wauer's lean volume is a start. Chapters include an overview of the robin's popularity, robin …

Review Of Agrarian Socialism In America: Marx, Jefferson, And Jesus In The Oklahoma Countryside, 1904-1920 By Jim Bissett, Garin Burbank

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Jim Bissett's well-written book on the Socialist Party of Oklahoma goes down a well-worn path. In his search for a usable past to illuminate the hidden strength of an authentic American radicalism, he finds roughly what most radical scholars find when they indict the spurious openness of American democracy (176). Oklahoma tenant-farmers are exploited, co-opted, and coerced; large landowners and commercial interests are by turns clever and rapacious; an effective protest movement inspires radical insurgents whose appeal becomes "extraordinarily powerful" for a short period (99); the movement becomes so threatening to the political and economic dominance of the "interests" that …

Review Of Tribal Government Today: Politics On Montana Indian Reservations, Walter C. Fleming

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

In this revision of their 1990 Westview Press edition, the authors state that their aim "is not only to scrutinize the workings of Montana's seven reservation governments but also to identify what is representative of tribal politics throughout the West" (5). A chapter is therefore devoted to an overview of tribal governance in each reservation in Montana.

The major difference here (aside from a much-needed index) is the inclusion of an epilogue, "Tribal Governments in Transition." Users must therefore be cautious: since the authors have not revised each chapter, the information and observations about individual reservations is current only to …

Review Of Passage Of Discovery: The American Rivers Guide To The Missouri River Of Lewis And Clark By Daniel B. Botkin, Bruce A. Barton

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

In Passage of Discovery, well-known ecologist and noted author Daniel Botkin takes the reader on a historic and ecological journey up the Missouri River from its confluence near St. Charles, Missouri, to its source at Three Forks, Montana, following the route of Lewis and Clark in 1804-05. Apparent throughout is Botkin's justifiably high regard for the observational, intuitive, and leadership skills demonstrated by both Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during their monumental expedition. The fact that only one member of the party died, and that due to circumstances beyond their control, is a tribute to those skills.

Review Of The Ecological Indian: Myth And History By Shepard Krech Iii, John C. Mohawk

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

In The Ecological Indian: Myth and History, anthropologist Shepard Krech III sets out to prove that the image of the indigenous peoples and cultures of the Americas so regularly invoked to demonstrate humanity's capacity to live harmoniously with nature is a misleading one, more the product of image building by modern ecologists than a reality of history. That image of the American Indian as ecologist was epitomized in a 1971 Keep America Beautiful, Inc. campaign against litter depicting actor Iron Eyes Cody as a Native American who shed tears over thoughtless acts of littering and pollution. It was an …

Latinos Along The Platte: The Hispanic Experience In Central Nebraska, Roger Davis

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

This essay examines the arrival and growth of Latino population, principally Mexican American, into the Platte River valley region of Nebraska from 1890 to 1996. It outlines the history of the push and pull factors of immigration from Mexico and the various phases and characteristics of Latino settlement in the Midwest generally and in Nebraska specifically. It reviews demographic patterns over the 20th century and concludes with observations based upon census projections that indicate that the Nebraska Latino community will become the state's primary minority community by 2025.

The Shahnameh Of Ferdowsi: An Icon To National Identity, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Richard L. Burger. Chavin And The Origins Of Andean Civilizations, Laina Farhat-Holzman

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

Ashok Kumar Malbora Transcreation Of The Bhagavad Gita., Michael Andregg

Comparative Civilizations Review

No abstract provided.

A Commentary On Bison And Cultural Restoration: Partnership Between The National Wildlife Federation And The Intertribal Bison Cooperative, Stephen Torbit, Louis Larose

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

In January 1997 the National Wildlife Federation and the InterTribal Bison Cooperative signed a memorandum of understanding formally recognizing our common goals of ending the slaughter of Yellowstone bison and working to repatriate buffalo to Native American reservations. It was the first time a formal relationship had ever been established between Native Americans and a national conservation organization. The partnership had two goals. The first goal was to reestablish management of North American bison as one of the premier wildlife species of the West, by restoring bison to those tribal and public land habitats capable of supporting their long-term survival. …

Review Of Parks For Texas: Enduring Landscapes Of The New Deal By James Wright Steely, Kenneth Hendrickson, Jr.

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

This excellent study chronicles the growth of the Texas state park system from its beginnings in the 1880s to its maturity in the 1940s. Parks were established at first around historic sites from the Texas Revolution, and not until the 1920s did Governor Pat Neff envision the kind of modern park system that eventually developed. Even then, it was not until the 1930s that the system began to grow rapidly as a result of a federal-state partnership for Depression relief that provided the funds and labor to build fifty-two parks under the direction of the National Park Service.

Review Of The Federal Landscape: An Economic History Of The Twentieth-Century By West. Gerald D. Nash, R. Douglas Hart

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Without question, the federal government created the twentieth-century West. It built dams and distributed water to farmers and urbanites, constructed federal highways that permitted the development of the region's natural resources, established navy, army, and air force installations, and provided contracts for the post-World War II military-industrial complex and aerospace industry. By so doing, the federal government made an indelible imprint on the Western landscape, in much contrast to the nineteenth century when individual enterprise gave the region its economic, social, and political identity.

The Czech Republic - Problems Of Catholic Theological Education Ten Years After The Velvet Revolution, Janice Broun

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

No abstract provided.

Great Plains Research Volume 11, Number 1, Spring 2001 News And Notes

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Contents:

Charles E. Bessey Award
Leslie Hewes Award
Great Plains Research Junior Science Award
Call for Papers

What The Past Can Provide: Contribution Of Prehistoric Bison Studies To Modern Bison Management, Kenneth Cannon

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

For over 100 years, bison in the Greater Yellowstone Area have been managed intensely. Even during the years of "natural regulation," bison herds have been heavily managed by culling. One of the fundamental goals of the plan for the Greater Yellowstone Area is to maintain the ecosystem's integrity using sound science. In order to reach this goal, it must be recognized that it is a dynamic system, continually undergoing change. However, our knowledge of such changes is extremely limited. In the case of bison, our knowledge is based on nonsystematically collected historic records and modern studies of small, isolated populations. …

Essay: Bison Restoration In The Great Plains And The Challenge Of Their Management, Judith L. Mcdonald

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Efforts to save remnant wild bison from extermination have resulted in the establishment of herds on private, public, and tribal lands. Ironically, their successful restoration has evolved into a profitable agricultural industry and a practical alternative to raising domestic cattle. Bison restoration actively managed by humans raises ecological, ethical, and evolutionary questions about whether we are compromising their native ability to function in a grasslands ecosystem. In this essay I examine current bison management practices, conflicting human values about land-use practices, and emerging land-use initiatives focusing on wild bison and ecosystem restoration in the northern Great Plains.

Where The Buffalo Roamed – Or Did They?, Richard Hart

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Grazing management on the Great Plains has been criticized for not more closely matching the presumed grazing patterns of bison. The critics assume that bison "flash grazed," that is, grazed heavily for a short time, then moved on, and did not return for months or even years. This assumption complements the traditional view of an annual north-south migration of the herds. However, evidence from explorers' and other travelers' journals contradict both flash grazing and annual north-south migration. In a few cases where prolonged continuous observations were made in the same favorable habitat, bison were seldom absent. In Canada, bison sometimes …

Nutrient Composition Of Grass- And Grain-Finished Bison, Martin Marchello

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

The North American buffalo (Bison bison) has survived near extinction to become a commodity (meat, hides, and hair) in a consumer-driven market. Since this is a growth industry, primarily young bulls are slaughtered for meat, while most females are used to build the herd. Bison meat is highly palatable, and previous research showed that grain-finished bison meat is low in fat and high in protein. However, bison may be grain- or grass-finished. In this study we found few differences in nutrient content of the meat between grain- or grass-finished bison. Grass-finished animals had a little more moisture (75.9 …

Carbon Stable Isotope Analysis Of Bison Dentition, R. Mark Larson, Lawrence C. Todd, Eugene F. Kelly, Jeffrey M. Welker

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Understanding how bison behaved in the past can provide key insights for today's managers, ecologists, and anthropologists. However, the direct application of both historic documentation and modern field observations may not provide the necessary insights for understanding bison behaviors in archeological and paleontological contexts. In order to develop a better understanding of possible behavior within these contexts, we have developed individual foraging histories for 22 Bison bison from the Glenrock Buffalo Jump assemblage of the Plains Late Prehistoric period in Wyoming and four Pleistocene B. priscus from the Ukraine. Incremental stable carbon isotopic values of dental enamel were used to …

Carbon And Nitrogen Isotopes In Archeological Bison Remains As Indicators Of Paleoenvironmental Change In Southern Alberta, Jeremy J. Leyden, Gerald Oetelaar

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Between 1995 and 1997, archeological excavations in northwest Calgary, Alberta, uncovered cultural materials from several occupations dating back 8,500 years. Samples of bison bone recovered at the sites were chemically prepared and analyzed for isotopic ratios. Using the resultant carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios, we reconstructed the diet of bison from four different cultural occupations spanning the last 8,500 years. Based on current and established models of bison subsistence behavior, this dietary information was used to infer large-scale environmental changes during this time interval in our study area. The inferred changes in vegetation and climate were compared with paleoenvironmental reconstructions …

Review Of Texas Bug Book: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly By C. Malcolm Beck And John Howard Garrett, W. Eugene Hall

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Seeing the title of this book prior to reading it, I was a bit concerned about its content and possible negative outlook towards insects. Having worked as an entomologist the past sixteen years and possessing a lifelong appreciation for insects and other arthropods, I tend to think of all insects as "good," very few if any of them "bad," and none of them "ugly." Like it or not, every species of insect serves a positive or beneficial purpose in the great scheme of things within the natural world. Insects ruled this planet long before humankind became established, continue to dominate …

Review Of Great Texas Birds , Paul A. Johnsgard

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

John O'Neill is unique: the only active professional bird artist who is also a world-class ornithologist. He is thus a kind of reincarnation of George M. Sutton, O'Neill's mentor and the idol of thousands of lovers of birds and fine bird art. Since graduating from the University of Oklahoma, O'Neill has repeatedly visited the Peruvian tropics, discovering more than a dozen species (more than any other living biologist) and illustrating hundreds more for field guides and other ornithological books. His subjects are generally more detailed, and his palette brighter, than Sutton's, but he is able to use white space and …

Review Of Gatherings Of Angels: Migrating Birds And Their Ecology Edited By Kenneth P. Able, Gary Lingle

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Who among us has not marveled at the mystery of bird migration? I know the sights and sounds of vast skeins of geese plying northward, or the kettles of cranes or raptors floating on thermals across the prairie skies, or even the sudden appearance of gaudily clad Baltimore orioles or bobolinks in the spring still quicken my pulse. How do they navigate across the vast expanses of the globe? What cues tell them when it's time to begin their treks? And, more fundamentally, why do birds migrate? These are simply a few of the myriad questions surrounding this natural phenomenon.

Review Of The Smithsonian Book Of North American Mammals Edited By Don E. Wilson And Sue Ruff, Jerry Choate

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

In his 1982 Journal of Mammalogy review of E. Raymond Hall's epic tome The Mammals of North America (1981), J. Knox Jones Jr. opined, "It is unlikely that any other American mammalogist would have undertaken, or will undertake again, such a gigantic task." That statement remains valid only because Hall produced useful maps.

The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals is, in many respects, a companion volume to Wilson and Reeder's Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (1993). That book, like the present one, was a collaborative effort with the American Society of Mammalogists and the …