An in-depth look at the historical truth behind the popular myths Whether romantic or tragic, accounts of the dramatic events surrounding the North American Dust Bowl of the "dirty thirties" unearthed deep anxieities buried in America's ecological imagination. Moreover, the anxieties about a landscape of fear remain embedded in the national consciousness today. In vivid form, the aesthetic of suffering captured in Dorothea Lange's photographs and Wood Guthrie's folk songs made the myths and memories of the Depression generation. Dust Bowl, USA is a critical examination of the stories that grew out of the Dust Bowl experience Across the nation, newspapers, magazines, books, film, and aong, produced imagery of blight for local and mass audiences. As new technology, irrigation innovations, and conservation programs were introduced on a wide scale during the 1930s, the saga of the frontier continued to unfold through accounts of dust, drought, and desertification. In piercing the myths brought forth in legends, lore, allegories, and antecdotes, Brad Lookingbill provides a revelatory insight into the history of the cultural narratives that have come to define an era.

War Dance at Fort Marion tells the powerful story of Kiowa, Cheyenne, Comanche, and Arapaho chiefs and warriors detained as prisoners of war by the U.S. Army. Held from 1875 until 1878 at Fort Marion in Saint Augustine, Florida, they participated in an educational experiment, initiated by Captain Richard Henry Pratt, as an alternative to standard imprisonment. This book, the first complete account of a unique cohort of Native peoples, brings their collective story to life and pays tribute to their individual talents and achievements.
Throughout their incarceration, the Plains Indian leaders followed Pratt's rules and met his educational demands even as they remained true to their own identities. Their actions spoke volumes about the sophistication of their cultural traditions, as they continued to practice Native dances and ceremonies and also illustrated their history and experiences in the now-famous ledger drawing books.
Brad D. Lookingbill's War Dance at Fort Marion draws on numerous primary documents, especially Native American accounts, to reconstruct the war prisoners' story. The author shows that what began as Pratt's effort to end the Indians' resistance to their imposed exile transformed into a new vision to mold them into model citizens in mainstream American society, though this came at the cost of intense personal suffering and loss for the Indians.