900 Miles from Nowhere

by Kinsella, Steven R.

• ISBN13: 9780873515726
• ISBN10: 0873515722
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-09-01
• Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society Pr

Summary

It was on the vast American prairie that people from around the world seized the opportunity for personal and economic freedom promised by free land. Travelling across oceans and continents, these hard-nosed, pragmatic people began arriving in the 1860s with shovels and ploughs, convinced they were part of something important. They were. Putting hand to plough and breaking the sod for their first crude homes, these hardy settlers left an indelible thumbprint on American history and on the country's character. Though many of their ventures ended in failure, their risks permanently enhanced the nation's diversity and its sense of independence and resourcefulness. 900 Miles from Nowhere is the heartfelt chronicle of the daily lives and personal struggles of Great Plains homesteaders, told in their own voices through many never-before-published letters, diaries, and photographs. Believing absolutely that they could control their own destiny, they bet everything they owned, even in the face of insurmountable obstacles. This is the remarkable and ever-inspiring story of life on the grasslands that stretch from Canada to Mexico.

Author Biography

Steven R. Kinsella is a news-media consultant and public affairs strategist for conservation organizations. A former press secretary to U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, Kinsella is a guest commentator in major U.S. newspapers and the author of a book on trout fishing.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Introduction to the Great Plains

Toward the Setting Sun

Homes of Sod and Tar Paper

With Plow and Beast

The Menace from Within

Families of the Prairie

Socialising and Adventuring

Fire and Ice

Death's Shadow

The Menace From Above

The West is No Place for Faint Hearts

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