Great Plains (Classics of Reportage S.)

Good reportage, probably not in depth enough and a bit fractured in places as his journey does not follow an established pattern. Not laugh out loud, but found myself smiling quite a lot. Unbiased about the native Indian which a lot of US books are not, they seem to thrive on matter of fact racism.It is a quick read, and gives a good insight into US culture of cars, driving and their paranoia in the cold war.

(Note: This review is of the U.S. Kindle edition.)“The Plains Cree never washed their clothes, just bought new ones at the trader’s twice a year … The Crow chopped joints off their fingers in mourning so often that they hardly had a whole hand among them. The men generally saved their thumbs and one or two trigger fingers.” ‒ from GREAT PLAINS“The empty air was still vibrating slightly with the suppressed fidgets of children.” ‒ from GREAT PLAINS, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic in Strasburg, ND after the end of Sunday service“… the oil towns of Plainview and Midland and Odessa rise like offshore drilling rigs. In prosperous years, the push buttons of local pay telephones are smudged with oily fingerprints, and Laundromats have ‘Do Not Wash Rig Clothes Here’ signs.” ‒ from GREAT PLAINS“‘(Custer) killed a man when he fell. He laughed’, Sitting Bull said … I like to believe Custer even had fun dying … Custer finally ran into the largest off-reservation gathering of Indians ever in one place on the continent, and gave them what was possibly the last really good time they ever had.” ‒ from GREAT PLAINS“Driving on the prairie near Great Falls, Montana, or Minot, North Dakota, or Cheyenne, Wyoming, you might not realize right away that you are in a weapons system. A nuclear-missile silo is one of the quintessential Great Plains objects: to the eye, it is almost nothing … but to the imagination, it is the end of the world.” ‒ from GREAT PLAINSIn 1982, author Ian Frazier moved from New York to Kalispell, Montana. There, he started to dream about the Great Plains. And from there, he began his exploration of the landscape he dreamed about. In GREAT PLAINS, he tells us what he discovered.Although there may be an underlying structure to GREAT PLAINS, it wasn’t readily apparent to this reader beyond the chapter numbers. Rather it seems but an almost endless stream-of-thought collection of anecdotal stories of Frazier’s personal experiences driving the Great Plains mixed with historical asides about the region. It is, however, constantly fascinating. It was a disappointment when the narrative concluded at the 69% point when the book transitioned to the Notes Index; unhappily, the narrative itself isn’t endless.Beyond his own experiences with the people he meets and the places he visits, GREAT PLAINS is a varied mix of Great Plains past history and present realities: the identifying characteristics of the Indian tribes and their tepees, the old trapper rendezvous sites of Fort Union and Bent’s Fort, the plains grasses and tumbleweeds, Bonnie and Clyde, Billie the Kid, present-day abandoned homesteads, the Dustbowl, the influx of black settlers after the Civil War and that of German-speaking Russians in the late 19th century, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, the evolution of wheat types being planted and stored, present-day missile silos, strip mining, Custer, the 1862 Homestead Act, Lawrence Welk, the extermination of the buffalo, cattle drives, Dodge City of the “old west”, and the Indian Ghost Dance. The topics touched upon by Frazier are contextually fascinating and, thus, GREAT PLAINS is one of those books which compel the reader to constantly Google search for more information.I enjoyed GREAT PLAINS more than I thought I would. When I fly over them next, I’ll pay more attention looking out the window.

Beautifully written, wry, passionate and opinionated: this is an idiosyncratic career across the Great Plains taking in the Cold War, Custer, Crazy Horse, Bonnie and Clyde, the fates of the thousands of homesteaders who struggled to make a living from the land and many other perfectly observed vignettes illustrating the lives lived in The Great American Desert. Merely a taster, really, but one that richly repays repeat readings and always seems to offer up one more perfect sentence or utterly striking image.

Although I have never been there myself (and may never go there), I think that Frazier gives a good idea of how the Great Plain are and were. Since his travels took place in the 80's, some nore recent developments (like depopulation or bio-ethanol) may not have been considered, but anyway the book focusses on the time between 1870 and 1940, which -I assume- was one of the most interesting periods in the plains, from Sitting Bull to the Great Dust Bowl. He obviously took a special liking in the history of Crazy Horse. Perhaps a few, more personal impressions would have made the book even better.When I bought the book, I wanted something to read something about a place that I certainly will not visit myself. After reading it, I may have changed my mind on that.

For a long, long time I have struggled to read anything other than fiction books - the real world seems just too boring!Ian Frazier remedied this immediately with a book that covers any interest from American History, to the topography of the American plains areas and even anecdotal exchanges with locals if you want to know more about life on he plains in general.He doesn't tend to ramble or get too boring, unlike other books of this nature. 5/5 Stars, this book is definitely worth the read.

Beautifully written all round description of the great flat grasslands between the Mississippi and the Rockies (more or less, see Ian Frazier for details). A bit too much history for me, at the expense of geology and topography but some lovely anecdotes of the empty roads and huge landscapes and it is a pleasure to read someone who clearly loves and enjoys this wonderful landscape in all its seasons and moods.Just makes you want to climb into that old pick up truck and head on down that dusty road.

The perfect antidote to shallow, flaccid newspaper and TV travel reporting, the author spent years driving the grassy emptiness of America's mid-west and creates a wonderfully readable tale of what happened to the Great Plains after the indians were kicked out. It's really funny, and brings a fresh eye to familiar stories. For example, Custer was just up for a laugh and Crazy Horse was the greatest ever American. There are horrific accounts of Kansas's last lynching, Bonnie and Clyde without the Hollywood glam, the sickening story of the killing of millions of buffalo, but plenty of heart-warming stuff too.For any budding writer, this is a must read.