Other International and Area Studies Commons^™

"Drainage, Drainage, Drainage" Creating Natural Disasters In Southeastern Nebraska, William Keith Guthrie

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In May 1950 the Little Nemaha River valley in the southeastern quadrant of Nebraska suffered a record-breaking flood. For a short time at the town of Syracuse, the Little Nemaha River, which drained a watershed of 218 square miles, had an estimated discharge of 225,000 cubic feet per second. This was larger than any flood recorded since 1928 on the Missouri River at Omaha, which drained a watershed of 322,000 square miles! During this storm and flood twenty-three people lost their lives, fourteen in the Little Nemaha Valley. As night came on, floodwaters swept a commercial bus off a highway …

Review Of A National Crime: The Canadian Government And The Residential School System, 1879-1986 By John S. Milloy, Agnes Grant

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The recent proliferation of commentary on residential schools leaves one question unanswered: Did no one know what was happening? The assumption is that if someone had known, it would have been prevented.

Milloy's book answers this question, clearly and unequivocally. Federal bureaucrats knew what was happening. They knew that children were being mistreated; they knew that no real education was taking place, and they understood the impact this system was having on its survivors. The daily horrors the children experienced can justly be laid at the door of the churches, but the ultimate responsibility lies with the federal government which …

Review Of Landscapes Of The New West: Gender And Geography In Contemporary Women's Writing By Krista Comer, Brigitte Georgi-Findlay

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Claiming the New Western History as its most enabling context, Comer's study traces the genealogy of recent female regionalist writing, locating its roots in the civil rights movement, feminism, and postmodernism. This is an obvious challenge to those who claim Western regionalism as the very antidote to postmodernism. Moreover, by including writers of color in her discussion, Comer questions the idea that Western regionalism is only a "white thing."

Through issues of gender, landscape, and geography, Comer focuses in each of her chapters on a different kind of landscape-urban, wild, erotic, national. The Great Plains do not seem to fit …

Review Of Displays Of Power: Memory And Amnesia In The American Museum By Steven C. Dubin, Willard L. Boyd

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Displays of Power describes the movement of museums from mausoleums to centers of controversy during the period from 1969 to 1999. In his prologue and epilogue, Steven Dubin gives his general observations about the nature of this paradigm shift and the reasons for it, in essence attributing the transformation to the coming of the culture wars to museum exhibits. The younger culture warriors of the 1960s are now the older curators, educators, and exhibit designers in museums. Claiming expertness, they are the anonymous voice of power behind the museum oracle. Nowadays, however, oracles are questioned. In an increasingly democratic society, …

Review Of The Newspaper Indian: Native American Identity In The Press, 1820-90 By John M. Coward, Barbara Cloud

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

John M. Coward's study of newspapers and Native Americans could have been just another "how the press covered" description of newspaper content. Fortunately, Coward has produced an expert analysis of the complex interactions among reality, culture, and the newspapers that influenced public perceptions of Native Americans in the nineteenth century.

Using the Trail of Tears, the Sand Creek Massacre, Sitting Bull, and other case studies, Coward illustrates how Native Americans were disadvantaged by the intersection of Euro-American community attitudes with the development of journalistic practices. He shows how white settlers' love-hate relationship with Indians was both reinforced and exacerbated by …

Title And Contents- Fall 2000

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY

Volume 20/ Number 4 / Fall 2000

CONTENTS

THE PICTURE CHANGES: STYLISTIC VARIATION IN SITTING BULL'S BIOGRAPHIES Barbara Risch

CONTESTING TRADITION AND COMBATING INTOLERANCE: A HISTORY OF FREETHOUGHT IN KANSAS Aaron K. Ketchell

"drainage, drainage, DRAINAGE": CREATING NATURAL DISASTERS IN SOUTHEASTERN NEBRASKA William Keith Guthrie

GREAT PLAINS PRAGMATIST: AARON DOUGLAS AND THE ART OF SOCIAL PROTEST Audrey Thompson

Book Reviews

John M. Coward The Newspaper Indian: Native American Identity in the Press By BARBARA CLOUD

Paul Reddin Wild West Shows By ANDREW GULLIFORD

Douglas Waitley William Henry Jackson: Framing the Frontier By PETER BACON HALES

John Warfield …

Message From The Director- Fall 2000, James Stubbendieck

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

The Center for Great Plains Studies recently completed moving into its new building located between the south edge of the University of Nebraska campus and downtown Lincoln. For the first time in many years, all of the faculty, staff, and programs of the Center are in the same physical structure. The galleries of our Great Plains Art Collection are expanded in size and in a much more accessible location. Center office and work space are more than tripled providing many opportunities for new programs. Plains Song Review, an interdisciplinary undergraduate literary journal, will be published …

Contesting Tradition And Combating Intolerance A History Of Free Thought In Kansas, Aaron K. Ketchell

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Diversity is the hallmark of freethought in Kansas, for freethinkers were never a homogeneous body. The movement was not only religious, or for that matter, anti-religious, although the majority of social and political issues that it addressed had religious grounding. No one specific organized group dominated historical Kansas freethinking. Instead, individuals in the form of editors of various newspapers, journals, and book series became the landmarks by which the course of the movement's history may be most easily traced. Although the attitudes of freethinkers toward religion are the primary concern of this essay, it must be remembered that freethinkers had …

Review Of Winnipeg: A Prairie Portrait By Martin Cash, Geoffrey C. Smith

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

The purpose of this attractively produced book, a 125th anniversary project of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, is to celebrate the city at the threshold of the new millennium. Its author, a business writer for a local newspaper, is supported by a collaborative team that includes two writer-reporters and two photographers. The text, snappy and essentially journalistic in character, is organized into two main parts. The first ten chapters offer brief overviews of Winnipeg's history and contemporary aspects of the city's business activities, financial services, communications, arts, educational resources, healthcare facilities, recreational opportunities, and wider social fabric. The second part …

Review Of Crazy Horse By Larry Mcmurtry, Joseph C. Porter

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Our finest living novelist of the American West, Larry McMurtry, portrays one of the West's most notable historic figures in Crazy Horse. Two commemorations frame this readable survey biography: one, the Korczak Ziolkowski mountain sculpture of Crazy Horse; the other, a medallion struck by the government rewarding Little Big Man's apparent complicity in killing him. Who was this "American Sphinx, the loner who inspired the largest sculpture on Planet Earth?" McMurtry further asks what Crazy Horse meant "to his people in his lifetime, and also what he has come to mean to generations of Sioux in our own century …

Review Of William Henry Jackson: Framing The Frontier By Douglas Waitley, Peter Bacon Hales

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Certain markers have traditionally distinguished the professional from the amateur historian, prominent among them a quality of skepticism about the nature of sources and the facts they might reveal. In the National Archives reading rooms, one will still see women and men opening boxes with an air of anticipation restrained by severity of manner; they may remove the yellowed diary-book from the archival case with shaking hands, but they will almost immediately subject its paper, its vellum cover, and even the handwriting within, to a certain suspicious inspection before turning to the content. At the largest and most critical level …

Great Plains Pragmatist: Aaron Douglas And The Art Of Social Protest, Audrey Thompson

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

No abstract provided.

Notes And News- Fall 2000

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Notes And News

Politics And Values On The Plains

Missouri Valley History Conference

Internet Resources On The Great Plains

Bibliography On North American Indians, For K-12

Call For Papers: "Rhetoric On The Great Plains"

Review Of No More Free Markets Or Free Beer: The Progressive Era In Nebraska, 1900-1924 By Burton W. Folsom Jr., Harl A. Dalstrom

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In 1920 German Catholic voters in Saint Helena, Cedar County, cast seventy percent of their ballots for Marie Weekes, the Nonpartisan League candidate for Congress and a supporter of prohibition. What had driven beer-loving, anti-woman suffrage German-Americans to vote for the female candidate of an agrarian radical organization? Such major changes in Nebraska's political life are the subject of this book.

As its title suggests, Burton Folsom emphasizes the triumph of governmental socio-economic intervention over the principles of laissez faire. In a well-balanced, highly readable narrative, he analyzes the values of]. Sterling Morton, William Jennings Bryan, and George W. Norris-the …

Review Of The Politics Of Hallowed Ground: Wounded Knee And The Struggle For Indian Sovereignty By Mario Gonzalez And Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, Rolland Dewing

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

This is an insider's account of the attempt of the Oglala and Minneconjou tribes to establish the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre as a national American monument. The preface states, "This book is neither historiography, biography nor autobiography. It is what might be called a mixed genre, informal anecdotal writing of social and political history." The authors suggest this format is an attempt to present history in a more conversational and anecdotal way, allowing the story to be told against a background of federal laws and historical events that will give the reader a better understanding of Sioux …

Review Of Celluloid Indians: Native Americans And Film By Jacquelyn Kilpatrick, Michael Hilger

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

So far as I know, Jacquelyn Kilpatrick is the first person of American Indian heritage to write a book about the portrayal of Indians in film. Her special commitment to the American Indian community manifests itself in her careful analysis of American Indian historical issues in the chapters on film history and in her attention to parallel images in literature, especially literature by Native Americans. Complementing her unique perspective is a strong knowledge of contemporary film theory and criticism, which enables her to read selected films in ways that diverge from readings found in previous books on this topic.

Beginning …

Review Of The Indian Southwest: 1580-1830: Ethnogenesis And Reinvention By Gary Clayton Anderson, David La Vere

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

This is the most lucid and detailed examination of the political economy of the Southern Plains. At the center of that economy roamed the buffalo; but once Europeans arrived, horses, cattle, firearms, captives, and manufactured goods helped power it. Bonds of kinship and reciprocity drew all peoples in and around the Southern Plains into it, including Pueblos and Spaniards in New Mexico; Spaniards and Mexicans in Texas; Jumanos, Apaches, Wichitas, and Comanches on the Plains; and Caddos and the French in Louisiana. Still, the Plains could be a hard environment, with long droughts and epidemics of European diseases, both of …

Review Of Roadside History Of Montana By Don Spritzer, Michael Malone

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Historians tend not to take "roadside histories" very seriously, even while the literate public appreciates them for their ready vantages on the accessible past. This volume, however, merits the attention of historians as well as "buffs" for its multifaceted insights based upon a broad array of state and local histories. It is, in short, a serious work.

Traversing the Highline region of the far north at the start, Don Spritzer moves into the mountain valleys of the west, then the more open valleys and plateaus of the southwestern and central areas, and concludes with a run eastward down the broad …

Review Of Visions Of Paradise: Glimpses Of Our Landscape's Legacy By John Warfield Simpson, Robert Thacker

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

In this book's first pages, Simpson dissects its title and says his use of "glimpses" there "indicates that this is not the complete story of the landscape. Instead, it is a set of snapshots of formative forces over the past two hundred years that ... most shaped our contemporary setting." Readily conceding that "other academics provide the original scholarship" he offers here, Simpson holds nonetheless that his "snapshots synthesize that scholarship across many disciplinary boundaries to clarify and find general meaning in the landscape story .... " Simpson is as good as his word. Visions of Paradise is a lucid …

Great Plains Pragmatist Aaron Douglas And The Art Of Social Protest, Audrey Thompson

Great Plains Quarterly (through 2013)

Like most of the luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance, its leading visual artist, Aaron Douglas, was not himself a product of Harlem.¹ Although Winold Reiss and Alain Locke were to guide Douglas in the development of his artistic vision once he arrived in Harlem, his early years in Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska gave rise to both the communal values and the artistic sense of isolation that were to lead him to Harlem. It was in the black church and in Topeka's "cohesive and politically active" African-American community that Douglas first experienced black solidarity and embraced "the values of education …

The Use Of An Ethnic Food Frequency Questionnaire Among Hispanic Women, Susan Jordan

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The objective of this study was to determine if an Ethnic Food Frequency questionnaire more accurately reflected food intake among immigrant Hispanic women compared to US-born Hispanic women. Participants in the study consisted of 30 immigrant and 25 US-born Hispanic low-income women living in the Grand Island, Nebraska, area. A traditional food frequency questionnaire used by the Nebraska Women, Infants, and Children's (WIC) Special Supplemental Food program and a modified questionnaire containing ethnic foods were administered to the women. The immigrant group consumed more of the traditional Hispanic foods than did the US-born group. A traditional food frequency questionnaire that …

Rethinking Human Services For Latinos In The Plains: New Paradigms And Recommendations For Practice, Robert Moreno, Lawrence P. Hernandez, Jennifer Schroeder, Ani Yazedijan

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In this paper we provide human service professionals with a foundation for understanding the cultural and programmatic issues necessary for effectively addressing the needs of Latinos within a context of demographic transition and decreases in public support for educational attainment, physical and mental health, and occupational success. A long tradition of deficit thinking has shaped many of the current models employed when addressing the needs of Latinos. The authors suggest "community/culturally centered" or "strengths-based" approaches, such as community based organizations (CBOs), as promising alternatives to current practices. Coalitions among CBOs can be the most effective method in creating and sustaining …

Review Of Working With Latino Youth: Culture, Development, And Context By Joan D. Koss-Chioino And Luis A. Vargas, Fernando Rivera

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The mental health problems Latino youth face in the United States are often misunderstood and viewed as a lack of willingness to assimilate or contribute to society. Some mental health practitioners and administrators have a hard time understanding that Latino youth, more often than not, don't "fit" the diagnosis and psychological interventions they use working with youth from dominant racial and ethnic groups. Providing, as it does, a comprehensive approach to understanding the problems Latinos and Latinas encounter growing up in US society, Working with Latino Youth can help rectify this lack of understanding.

Koss-Chioino and Vargas successfully achieve a …

Introduction: Latinos On The Great Plains: An Overview, Refugio Rochin

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

I am pleased to join co-editors Gus Carlo and Miguel Carranza in this special issue of Great Plains Research, focusing on the "Latino Experience on the Great Plains." As an invited contributor to this issue, I have decided to write from my personal knowledge and experiences as the former director of the Julian Samora Research Institute at Michigan State University from July 1994 through July 1998. It was during this time that I worked closely with a number of midwestern scholars to promote the most extensive studies and reports on Latinos of the heartland, including the Great Plains. At …

Review Of En Aquel Entonces: Readings In Mexican-American History Edited By Manuel G. Gonzales And Cynthia M. Gonzales, Jorge Iber

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

In their introduction editors Manuel G. and Cynthia M. Gonzales claim their task is to examine the diversity and complexity of "Chicano history" from the sixteenth through the twenty-first centuries. This is an ambitious undertaking, and they acknowledge that "the story is too varied and complex to be incorporated under a single rubric" (xi). Still, the effort is certainly worthwhile and in this case fairly effective.

The sheer volume of chronologically arranged articles (thirty-one) is impressive, as is the roster of contributors. Topics such as Tejano life in Texas, land grant adjudication, labor unrest in California, beet workers on the …

Review Of Terrestrial Ecoregions Of North America: A Conservation Assessment By Taylor H. Ricketts And Eric Dinerstein, O. W. Archibold

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Terrestrial Ecoregions of North America provides a comprehensive assessment of the status of biodiversity and conservation within the United States and Canada. Part of a global program conducted by the World Wildlife Fund, it is essentially a reference work offering baseline data for conservation planning and restoration. The book emphasises the precarious condition of many natural areas in North America, at the same time illustrating the great diversity that still exists in some areas and stressing the sense of urgency required to ensure the preservation of viable plant and animal populations in their natural habitats. It is not a textbook …

Death And Disability In The Heartland: Corporate (Mis)Conduct, Regulatory Responses, And The Plight Of Latino Workers In The Meatpacking Industry, Ann-Maria Wahl, Steven E. Gunkel, Thomas W. Sanchez

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Death and disability remain serious problems in the meatpacking industry, which increasingly depends on Latino workers. Here we examine these problems and the dynamics that heighten and minimize the hazards encountered in meatpacking plants. Drawing from published and unpublished sources, we provide statistical profiles and ethnographic accounts to capture the health and safety risks Latino workers face in the meatpacking plants of Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. Guided by recent research in labor market segmentation and the politics of social regulation, we trace the increased risk of injury and illness for Latinos to three intersecting dynamics: corporate conduct and misconduct on …

Attitudes Of Selected Latino Oldtimers Toward Newcomers: A Photo Elicitation Study, D. A. Lopez

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The Latino population in the Midwest has been increasing rapidly. Latinos have been in Omaha, Nebraska, since the late 1800s. However, the development of modern meatpacking plants and a low unemployment rate have resulted in a large population of "newcomers" to the city. Latino "oldtimers" differ from newcomers in their experiences. I examine, through photo elicitation, attitudes of a selected population of Latino oldtimers toward newcomers as contextualized through segmented assimilation. Results indicate oldtimers in this sample have some misgivings about newcomers. Furthermore, I argue that downward assimilation of Latino newcomers is likely given the conditions to which they migrate.

Review Of Groundwater Management In The West By Jeffrey S. Ashley And Zachary A. Smith, David E. Kromm

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

Groundwater is becoming an increasingly important water source throughout the United States, especially in the West where surface supplies are limited and usually over-committed. An assessment of groundwater in the West is needed, and this book fills an important gap in providing useful information in a well-organized and accessible fashion.

Ashley and Smith discuss the West, incorporating nineteen states, within four subregions: Pacific Coast, Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, and the Southwest. Each state is addressed in an individual chapter observing the same format: after a brief introduction, the authors describe the state's physical characteristics and demographics, the laws, politics, and …

Review Of The Contested Homeland: A Chicano History Of New Mexico Edited By Erlinda Gonzales-Berry And David R. Maciel, Armando C. Alonzo

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences (through 2013)

The goal of this anthology, consisting of ten essays on the history of the Nuevomexicano experience from the short Mexican period to the post-Chicano movement era of the 1960s and 1970s, is to present a Chicano perspective on the Nuevomexicano historical experience. Divided into two parts, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the collection's essays deal primarily with twentieth-century themes, a reasonable approach given the brevity of the Mexican era and the much longer period after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which initiated the era of United States rule. The dominant theme affirms that Nuevomexicanos have always contested their rights to …