Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Book Notes

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia.

New Histories for Old: Changing Perspectives on Canada's Native Pasts

The Intrepid Explorer: James Hector's Exploration in the Canadian Rockies

The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke: Volume Three, June 1, 1878-June 22, 1880

Making a Living: Work and Environment in the United States.

Cloud-Capped Towers: The Utopian Theme in Saskatchewan History and Culture

Voices from Next Year Country: An Oral History of Rural Saskatchewan

Women Who Pioneered Oklahoma: Stories From the WPA Narratives

Cowboy Life: The Letters of George Philip.

Review Of American Indian Literary Nationalism By Jace Weaver, Craig S. Womack, And Robert Warrior., Terri Baker

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Scholars of the American Indian experience should read this book. These three authors discuss more issues in American Indian Studies and American Indian literary criticism than you can shake a stick at, and, get this-you won't even chip any teeth trying to pronounce the words, although you might want to have a dictionary handy. Simon Ortiz provides the foundation for the conversation in his foreword, and the appendix includes his 1981 essay "Toward a National Indian Literature." Lisa Brooks provides a thoughtful afterword.

Warrior urges critics to focus on research and finding the ways that have brought the Native world …

Review Of Searching For Sacred Ground: The Journey Of Chief Lawrence Hart, Mennonite By Raylene Hinz-Penner, Clyde Ellis

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In Oklahoma's Cheyenne community, Lawrence Hart has led a life framed by service and self-sacrifice. Widely regarded by his people as the embodiment of what a leader should be, Hart has spent decades tending to their cultural, spiritual, and political health. In Hinz-Penner's hands, Hart's biography is not simply his life story, but also a reflection of the shifting contours of contemporary Native life and a story that tells us much about what it means to be Cheyenne in the modern world. Writing with a keen appreciation for the larger issues at play in Hart's life, Hinz-Penner deftly broadens her …

Review Of Ruling Pine Ridge: Oglala Lakota Politics From The Ira To Wounded Knee By Akim D. Reinhardt, James V. Fenelon

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

This well-documented book covers twentieth- century Pine Ridge politics by linking two events at Wounded Knee: the United States massacre of 1890 under cover of "war" on the Ghost Dance, and a 1973 American Indian Movement/ Traditionalist reoccupation and subsequent siege.

In explaining the dysfunctionality of the political economy on Pine Ridge, Reinhardt looks at the long-term effects of colonialism and its bureaucratic replacement in the Office of Indian Affairs (later renamed the Bureau of Indian Affairs), along with complicated divisions inculcated by government policies, often collectively known as internal colonialism. With astonishing detailed accuracy, he looks at the main …

Review Of Radical Hope: Ethics In The Face Of Cultural Devastation. By Jonathan Lear, Rodney Frey

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Jonathan Lear's Racial Hope is a most remarkable, engaging, and thought-provoking interpretation of one man's account of the collapse of his culture, as well as the hope he offers for a future for his people. Based on the life story of Plenty Coups (as recorded by Frank Linderman during the late 1920s), Lear considers two equally profound images offered by this Crow elder, one eng rained in the statement, "after this nothing happened," referring to what happened after being placed on a reservation, and the other in the medicine dreams of Plenty Coups in which the destruction of the Indian …

Review Of The Calgary Project: Urban Form/Urban Life. By Beverly A. Sandalack And Andrei Nicolai., Pierre Gauthier

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The Calgary Project is an ambitious narrative. In eight chapters and two appendixes, the authors set about tracing the historical and spatial evolution of Calgary, aiming at drawing conclusions that could inform its planning in the future. The city's development is portrayed through five periods, unfolding from the establishment of a small North West Mounted Police Fort in 1875 to our times. Each period is featured in a chapter that opens with a discussion of the ideas, plans, and planning practices of the time, followed by a discussion of the "spatial structure" of the urbanized areas, and concludes with an …

Review Of Encyclopedia Of The Great Plains Indians Edited By David J. Wishart, James Sherow

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

While there is little new in this volume, scholars and students of the Great Plains, the American West, and, of course, of Indian peoples will find this a useful reference tool. Editor David J. Wishart, a noted author on subjects of the Great Plains, culled the entries on Indian peoples from the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (2004), which he also edited.

The time span of this work reaches back to around 10,000 BP and takes readers up to the present. Wishart included a precise, succinct introduction by Philip Deloria and Christopher K. Riggs, excerpted from the Encyclopedia of the …

Why The Homesteading Data Are So Poor (And What Can Be Done About It), Richard Edwards

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Data available to scholars on homesteading are of very poor quality-inconsistent, unreliable, inaccessible, incomplete-and surprisingly, they haven't been getting any better. Even basic questions such as how much homesteaded land was "proved up," how much land was commuted, or how many actual farms were created by homesteading cannot be answered with any assurance. Moreover, the answers given today mostly depend on quantitative studies completed forty or more years ago.

Why should this be? After all, we have witnessed in recent decades a staggering increase in the capacity and convenience of data handling by using computers. The publication of the Historical …

Review Of Lewis And Clark Through Indian Eyes: Nine Indian Writers On The Legacy Of The Expedition Edited By Alvin M. Josephy Jr. With Marc Jaffe And Lewis And Clark And The Indian Country: The Native American Perspective Edited By Frederick E. Hoxie And Jay T. Nelson, Robert J. Miller

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

LEWIS AND CLARK: GONE; AMERICAN INDIANS: STILL HERE

The Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expedition is a well-known part of the history and lore of the United States. Its recent twohundred- year anniversary from 2003 to 2006 added greatly to popular interest in the expedition and to academic writing on Lewis and Clark.

Often asked during the bicentennial commemorations was the question of the expedition's actual importance. In fact, there has always been debate about the significance of Lewis and Clark in American history and to the ultimate expansion of the United States across the continent. In earlier times, the …

Notes And News- Summer 2008

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

DISSERTATION AWARD IN WOMEN'S HISTORY

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

CALL FOR PAPERS

Guidelines For Re-Establishing Grey Partridges Through Releasing, Francis Buner, N. J. Aebischer

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Reports and Other Materials

In the UK, numbers of grey partridges have declined by over 75% during the last 20 years, and in many parts of the country the species has become locally extinct. Concerns over the magnitude of the decline led the UK Government to place the species on the short list of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) for which the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust was appointed lead partner in 1996. The Grey Partridge Species Action Plan’s targets are to restore numbers from 65,000 pairs in 2005 to 90,000 pairs nationally by 2010, and to expand its 1990 range. Over the …

The Body Beautiful: Jonathan Spence’S Final Reith Lecture, Xu Guoqi

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Jonathan Spence gave his fourth and last Reith lecture on “The Body Beautiful.” This is a perfect fit for China’s Olympic year and a wonderful conclusion talk after his first lecture on mind (“Confucian Ways”), then on Chinese interactions with the former superpower (the second lecture “English Lessons”), and the current one (the third lecture “American Dreams”). From mind to body, from China as an ancient civilization through its turbulent relations with Western powers to a nation which is determined to compete with the world in hard power either economically or physically, the topic was extremely well thought. The lecture …

Our Women In China

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Since late 2006, James Fallows has been providing regular coverage on China forThe Atlantic Monthly. His first piece for the magazine was subtitled “Our Man in Shanghai…” and the retro phrase caught our eye not only for its imperial overtones (the frequency with which it is used to describe newspaper reporters is unnerving, since the phrase calls up Graham Greene’s title, Our Man in Havana, a book about nothing so much as bad intelligence), but also for its gender implications. After all, “our man in China” is just as often a woman (as has been the case in the past; …

Energy Use And Concerns Of Rural Nebraskans, Rebecca J. Vogt, Randolph L. Cantrell, Miguel A. Carranza, Bruce Johnson, David J. Peters

Publications from the Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI)

Energy prices have steadily increased during the past year. Rural residents are now faced with higher costs to drive and heat and cool their homes. Given these conditions, how much of a problem have rising energy costs been for rural Nebraskans? What are their opinions on future energy sources? What changes have they made or do they plan to make due to the price increases? This paper provides a detailed analysis of these questions.

This report details 2,496 responses to the 2008 Nebraska Rural Poll, the thirteenth annual effort to understand rural Nebraskans’ perceptions. Respondents were asked a series of …

Does The Corn/Soybean Farmer Have Time For Alternative Crops? [Abstract], Lori A. Hoagland, Laurie Hodges, Glenn A. Helmers, James R. Brandle, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Diversification of traditional row-crop farming in the Corn Belt is seen as advantageous in providing a wider economic base, decreasing economic risk associated with the link between commodity grain and cattle, increasing net farm income, and increasing biodiversity in the region. As farm size has increased to provide sufficient farm income, farm operations during the critical planting and harvesting windows are seen as limits to additional on-farm enterprises.

Smoke-Free Laws And Employee Turnover, Eric C. Thompson, Ellen J. Hahn, Glenn Blomquist, John Garen, Don Mullineaux, Nola Ogunro, Mary K. Rayens

Department of Economics: Faculty Publications

This study examines how smoke-free laws influence turnover among restaurant workers. The study uses a unique data set of payroll records of a franchisee of a national full-service restaurant chain operating 23 restaurants in the state of Arizona, a state where several communities have adopted smoke-free laws. Municipal smoke-free laws did not, on average, have a statistically significant effect on the probability of employee separation in the years after implementation. These results suggest that training costs associated with employee turnover would not rise for full-service restaurants in municipalities that adopt smoke-free laws.

Scholarly Communications, Annual Report, Fiscal/Academic Year 2007–2008, Paul Royster

Institutional Repository Information

The academic year 2007-2008 represented the third year of operation for the UNL Digital Commons, which continues to be an extremely effective vehicle for disseminating the scholarly output of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and affiliated organizations, as well as valuable means of enhancing the Library’s status as a provider of electronic services to the UNL community. Following are some highlights:

An Assessment Of Local People’S Opinions Of Community Conservation Initiatives In Relation To Livelihood Strategies In Kenya, Jill Mechtenberg

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Abstract This paper analyzed the changing livelihood strategies in Kenya, and their cultural impacts via a literature review. I then combined this understanding with the data I collected while in Kenya to examine the opinions local people have of community conservation initiatives, based on their changing livelihood strategies. I expected to find that the following factors would have an affect on the opinions local community members have of community conservation initiatives: livelihood strategy, gender, ethnicity, whether or not they believe the distribution of benefits coming from wildlife conservation is equitable, what issues they would like to see improved within community …

Boss Hu And The Press, Nicolai Volland

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In early May, we published the first installment of our feature, “China Around the World.” We asked scholars, journalists, and graduate students working outside China and the US to reflect on Chinese media and coverage of China. This reflection on the implications of Hu Jintao’s recent visit to the People’s Dailynewsroom is from Nicolai Volland, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore.

One June 20, Hu Jintao paid a high profile visit to the People’s Daily. His foray to the editorial offices of the CCP mouthpiece was first announced in the form …

How To Fill Your Institutional Repository: Or, Practical Lessons I Learned By Doing, Paul Royster

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

The evolution of content recruitment strategies at University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Institutional Repository over its first 3 years of operation. Includes practical advice on how to find and recruit postable articles.

Research Showcase: Unl’S Institutional Repository, Paul Royster

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

PowerPoint presentation on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's three-year effort to build its institutional repository. Includes slides on what is an IR, what systems are available, what strategies we have pursued, what has been successful (and what hasn't), how we do it, what staff it takes, what the results and statistics indicate, and why we help with NIH PubMed Central deposits.

China Around The World: Brazil, Yong Chen

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat occasionally reposts material that contributors have prepared and published in other venues. Below, Yong Chen has provided the transcript of an interview with a Brazilian paper.

The recent earthquake in Sichuan Province that devastated Wenchuan and the surrounding areas has generated much sympathy from people all over the world. They are also concerned about the broader impact on China, especially its economy and the upcoming Olympic games. Recently, I was recently interviewed by Correio Braziliense, the most important and influential in Brasilia. The interview questions exemplify such concerns and the global attention to China’s future development.

Q: Your …

Determinants Of Income Growth In Metropolitan And Nonmetropolitan Labor Markets, George W. Hammond, Eric C. Thompson

Department of Economics: Faculty Publications

This article analyzes determinants of growth across labor markets in the United States, using a production function approach based on four inputs: labor, manufacturing investment, human capital investment, and public capital investment. We find little role for public capital investment in growth, but that manufacturing investment spurred growth in nonmetropolitan areas, in contrast to metropolitan areas. We also find that human capital investment mattered more for metropolitan areas than for nonmetropolitan areas. Further, the presence of more colleges and universities, more household amenities, and lower tax rates are all found to have encouraged human capital accumulation in U.S. labor markets.

Connecting Print Titles With Their Electronic Alter Egos In The Catalog: Analysis & Full Disclosure, Judith Wolfe, Joan Latta Konecky, Dana W. R. Boden

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Presentations

No abstract provided.

Wei Cheng: From An Elite Novel To A Popular Metaphor, Xi Shi

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

China Beat is a global operation (with posts being written thus far everywhere from Beijing to Boston, Colorado to Cambodia) but it is edited at the University of California, Irvine, and more than a few CB pieces have grown out of casual conversations held on this campus. This post, for example, began when one of us mentioned to Xia Shi, who moved here from Beijing last year to do graduate work in history, that an interesting essay on the novel Fortress Besieged had appeared in the June 12 issue of the New York Review of Books (alas, only a teaser …

Finding Trust Online: Tigergate To The Sichuan Earthquakes, Guobing Yang

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

On December 15, 2007, China Digital Times posted a story about last year’s “Tigergate incident.” Titled “The Truth is More Endangered than Tigers in China,” the story begins:

The “South China Tiger” [华南虎］saga continues. Now known as “Tigergate” among Chinese netizens, this event will no doubt be one of the top media/internet stories of 2007. On December 2nd, NetEase (one of China’s leading news portals) published all 40 digital photos that farmer Zhou Zhenglong alleged he took of the tiger and also published six independent experts’ evaluations of the authenticity of these photos. These six independent third party evaluations include …

Jonathan Spence’S Yale Lectures: A Memoir, Susan Jakes

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

I first heard Jonathan Spence give a lecture thirty minutes or so after the first time I heard his name. It was the beginning of my fourth semester at Yale in 1995 during the chaotic week known on campus as “shopping period,” when students are allowed to attend any classes they choose. My roommate had announced that she was going to “shop Spence” and invited me to join her. Fortunately, she wasn’t too aghast to bring me along after I’d replied, “Sure, I’ll come with you, but what’s Spence?”

I don’t remember precisely how she answered, but whatever she said …

Using Appreciative Inquiry In Community Development, Alan Baquet, Connie Hancock, Charlotte Narjes

Cornhusker Economics

The Center for Applied Rural Innovation (CARI), an outreach effort of the Department of Agricultural Economics, is committed to being relevant and responsive to the needs of Nebraskans. Under the leadership of Dr. Alan Baquet, a trained facilitator in Appreciative Inquiry, CARI and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension are working with communities using an appreciative inquiry approach.

Communities have primarily used community development methods that look directly at the needs or problems, rather than on what is working well. This often leads to a focus on a certain project or program. Technical resources may be brought in to address a …

Ping Pong Diplomacy Revisited, Xu Guoqi

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

2008 is China’s Olympic year, which means that the world is watching that country through the lens of both sports and politics. However, this is not the first time China has attracted global attention because of sports. The 1971-1972 Ping Pong diplomacy that Mao Zedong played with the Americans had more serious consequences than this year’s Beijing Olympic Games, since the result of the Ping Pong friendship games fundamentally changed the international political scene and reshaped the world order.

Thirty-eight years later, however, when the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Librarycelebrated the historical moment earlier this month by hosting an event …

Jonathan Spence’S Third Reith Lecture: Dreams, Paradoxes, And The Uses Of History, Charles W. Hayford

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

In the third lecture of the Chinese Vistas series, “American Dreams,” Jonathan Spence talked about American dreams of China and, more tantalizing, Chinese dreams of America. He sees a series of “paradoxes” from the American Revolution to the present which set Chinese and American dreams at odds.

In the question period, another paradox emerged, one between different uses of history. The lecture was broadcast from the Asia Society on Park Avenue in New York, where the initial questions came from Richard Holbrooke, President of the Asia Society and heavyweight diplomat, and Henry Kissinger, an even heavier weight (Spence had written …