Synopses & Reviews
Looking over the vast open plains of eastern Colorado, western Kansas, and southwestern Nebraska, where one can travel miles without seeing a town or even a house, it is hard to imagine the crowded landscape of the last decades of the nineteenth century. In those days farmers, speculators, and town builders flooded the region, believing that rain would follow the plow and that the and#8220;Rainbeltand#8221; would become their agricultural Eden. It took a mere decade for drought and economic turmoil to drive these dreaming thousands from the land, turning farmland back to rangeland and reducing settlements to ghost towns.
David J. Wishartand#8217;s The Last Days of the Rainbelt is the sobering tale of the rapid rise and decline of the settlement of the western Great Plains. History finds its voice in interviews with elderly residents of the region by Civil Works Administration employees in 1933 and 1934. Evidence similarly emerges from land records, climate reports, census records, and diaries, as Wishart deftly tracks the expansion of westward settlement across the central plains and into the Rainbelt. Through an examination of migration patterns, land laws,and#160;town-building, and agricultural practices, Wishart re-creates the often-difficult life of settlers in a semiarid region who undertook the daunting task of adapting to a new environment. His book brings this era of American settlement and failure on the western Great Plains fully into the scope of historical memory.
Review
“David Wishart has discovered a rich lode of pioneer settler interviews from eastern Colorado, which form the heart of the book. . . . [He] skillfully retells the story of environmental misunderstanding through the eyes of the settlers who lived it.”—John C. Hudson, professor of geography at Northwestern University and author of Across this Land: A Regional Geography of the United States and Canada Richard D. Loosbrock - Nebraska History
Review
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The Last Days of the Rainbelt offers countless insights into frontier settlement.andquot;andmdash;
Environmental HistoryReview
"By combining previously overlooked archival material with an informed understanding of the region, Wishart makes an important time and place come alive."and#8212;James R. Shortridge, Kansas History
Review
andquot;Wishart has constructed an account that, page for page, may provide as good a portrait of the region as those produced by authors such as Walter Webb, Donald Worster, or Mari Sandoz. Thanks to scholars such as David Wishart, this volume also shows that the New Deal is the gift that keeps on giving.andquot;andmdash;Richard D. Loosbrock, Nebraska History
Review
"Whether your interest is cartography, social trends or a desire to learn more about our country's midsection, this glorious book is sure to captivate and educate."and#8212;Sandy Amazeen, Monsters and Critics
Review
"Recommended as a great value at a terrific price for most libraries; essential for all types of libraries where there is an interest in the history and geography of this region."and#8212;Diana Shonrock, Booklist
Review
"This distinctive and handsomely produced atlas is highly recommended as an invaluable reference resource for public and academic libraries, and it will enthrall all those with a special interest in North America's heartland."and#8212;Edward K. Werner, Library Journal
Review
"The Atlas of the Great Plains may well be one of the best scholarly atlases of a United States region ever produced. While the volume makes a much-needed scholarly contribution to research on the region, its layout, topics, map design, and text make the geographical diversity and geographical patterns of the Great Plains easily accessible to anyone who has an interest in this often-overlooked region of North America."and#8212;Robert Watrel, South Dakota History
Review
"Every library in the plains region will of course need this title in its reference collection."and#8212;Mark T. Bay, American Reference Books
Synopsis
2011
Booklist Editor's Choice, reference category
The Great Plains, stretching northward from Texas into Canada, is a region that has been understudied and overlooked. The Atlas of the Great Plains, however, brings a new focus to North Americaand#8217;s midcontinent. With more than three hundred original full-color maps, accompanied by extended explanatory text, this collection chronicles the history of the Great Plains, including political and social developments. Far more than simply the geography of the region, this atlas explores a myriad of subjects from Native Americans to settlement patterns, agricultural ventures to voting records, and medical services to crime rates. These detailed and beautifully designed maps convey the significance of the region, capturing the essence of its land and life. The only current and comprehensive atlas of the Great Plains region, it is also the first atlas to include both the United States and Canada, showing the regionand#8217;s full length and breadth.
About the Author
Stephen J. Lavin (1943and#8211;2011) was a professor of geography at the University of Nebraskaand#8211;Lincoln. He is the coauthor (with J. Clark Archer and Fred M. Shelley) of the Historical Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections, 1788and#8211;2004 and the Atlas of American Politics, 1960and#8211;2000. Fred M. Shelley is a professor of geography at the University of Oklahoma. He is the coauthor of The Geography of North America: Environment, Political Economy, and Culture. J. Clark Archer is a professor of geography at the University of Nebraskaand#8211;Lincoln. David J. Wishart is a professor of geography at the University of Nebraskaand#8211;Lincoln and the editor of the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Nebraska 2004). John C. Hudson is a professor of geography at Northwestern University and author of Across This Land: A Regional Geography of the United States and Canada.