The "Encyclopedia of the Great Plains" is a cooperative project of
the Center for Great Plains Studies and the University of Nebraska
Press, with the generous support of the National Endowment for the
Humanities, the University of Nebraska Foundation, and the Nebraska
Humanities Council.
The Great Plains is a vast expanse of grasslands stretching from
the Rocky Mountains to the Missouri River and from the Rio Grande
to the coniferous forests of Canada--an area more than eighteen
hundred miles from north to south and more than five hundred miles
from east to west. The Great Plains region includes all or parts of
Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming,
South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and
Manitoba.
The region, once labeled "the Great American Desert," is now
more often called the "heartland," or, sometimes, "the breadbasket
of the world." Its immense distances, flowing grasslands, sparse
population, enveloping horizons, and dominating sky convey a sense
of expansiveness, even emptiness or loneliness, a reaction to too
much space and one's own meager presence in it.
The Plains region is the home of the Dust Bowl, the massacre at
Wounded Knee, the North-West Rebellion, the Tulsa race riot, the
Lincoln County War, the purported Roswell alien landing, and the
Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. From it have emerged furs, cattle, corn,
wheat, oil, gas, and coal, as well as jazz, literature, and
political reform. It has been inhabited for more than twelve
thousand years, since Paleo-Indians hunted mammoth and bison. More
recent emigrants came from eastern North America, Europe, Latin
America, and Asia, resulting in a complex and distinctiveethnic
mosaic.
With 1,316 entries contributed by more than one thousand
scholars, this groundbreaking reference work captures what is vital
and interesting about the Great Plains--from its temperamental
climate to its images and icons, its historical character, its
folklore, and its politics. Thoroughly illustrated, annotated, and
indexed, this remarkable compendium of information and analysis
will prove the definitive and indispensable resource on the Great
Plains for many years to come.
Listen to an interview with David J. Wishart from Nebraska
Public Radio
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