Nebraska Moments

by Hickey, Donald R.

• ISBN13: 9780803260399
• ISBN10: 0803260393
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-01
• Publisher: Bison Books

Summary

Nebraska author Mari Sandoz remarked that most people see Nebraska as "that long flat state that sets between me and any place I want to go." If so, they're missing plenty, as this entertaining volume makes abundantly clear. Susan A. Wunder and John R. Wunder's new, expanded, and updated edition of Donald R. Hickey's classic account of defining Nebraska moments showcases triumph, tragedy, comedy, and accomplishments that could have happened nowhere else and that reveal the rich culture and history under the state's deceptively quiet surface. There are moments that shine--surviving the Oregon and Mormon trails; completing the Union Pacific Railroad; and winning national football championships, Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, and presidential nominations. There are also moments of darkness such as the murders of Crazy Horse, Malcolm X, and Brandon Teena; the lynchings of Will Brown and Juan Gonzalez; and the Blizzard of 1888. Together they evoke a dramatic history populated with the likes of Pedro Villasur, Willa Cather, and William Jennings Bryan. This new edition also mines Nebraska's most recent history, adding to the ever-changing, ever-intriguing picture of this Great Plains state.

Author Biography

Donald R. Hickey is a professor of history at Wayne State College. Susan A. Wunder is an associate professor of education at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. John R. Wunder is a professor of history and journalism at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
List of Maps	p. x
Timeline of Nebraska Moments	p. xi
Preface	p. xv
The Villasur Expedition	p. 1
Old Bellevue	p. 9
The Oregon Trail	p. 15
The Kansas-Nebraska Act	p. 23
The Pony Express	p. 30
Daniel Freeman and Homesteading	p. 37
Nebraska Statehood and Its First Governor	p. 47
The Fight for the Capital	p. 55
Red Cloud and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868	p. 63
The Union Pacific Railroad	p. 73
The Murder of Crazy Horse at Fort Robinson	p. 81
The Trial of Standing Bear	p. 92
"Buffalo Bill" Cody and the Wild West Show	p. 102
The Great Nebraska Migration	p. 110
J. Sterling Morton and Arbor Day	p. 121
The Blizzard of '88	p. 129
William Jennings Bryan and Agrarian Protest	p. 135
The Rise of Omaha	p. 145
Charles E. Bessey and the Nebraska National Forest	p. 154
Gen. John J. Pershing and World War I	p. 160
Fr. Edward Flanagan, the Abbott Sisters, and Nebraska's Children	p. 171
The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and Nebraska's Doctors	p. 182
Meyer v. Nebraska (1923)	p. 192
Willa Cather and Her Pulitzer Prize	p. 204
The Nebraska State Capitol, Great Plains Icon	p. 213
Nebraska's Would-be Vice Presidents	p. 221
The Pound Family	p. 234
Nebraska's Literary Renaissance	p. 148
George W. Norris and the Unicameral	p. 261
The Nebraska Home Front and World War II	p. 271
Nebraska's Visual Feast	p. 280
Nebraska's Scientists	p. 290
Offutt Air Force Base	p. 301
The Ogallala Aquifer	p. 308
Omaha's Gerald Ford and Malcolm X	p. 317
Becoming Madam Governor	p. 331
The University of Nebraska Football Champions	p. 342
The Murder of Brandon Teena	p. 358
The Kearney Arch	p. 370
Index	p. 381
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