Bad LandBad Land
An American Romance
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Book, 1996
Current format, Book, 1996, , All copies in use.Book, 1996
Current format, Book, 1996, , All copies in use. Offered in 0 more formatsJourneys beyond the myth of the American West to reveal the harsh and desperate realities of the homesteaders' lives, offering an incisive portrait of the American heartland that redefines the essence of the American dream
Journeys beyond the myth of the American West to reveal the harsh and desperate realities of the homesteaders' lives, offering an incisive portrait of the American heartland that redefines the essence of the American dream. 30,000 first printing. Tour.
"When Dad came out here, he had twenty-five dollars, a wagon, and a mule." So begins the stories of countless homesteaders who, in the first decades of this century, seized an astounding government offer: three hundred and twenty free acres in the stark, dry Plains of Montana and the Dakotas. Seduced by the promises from railroad companies, by liberal credit from bankers, and by scientific claims about dry-land farming; seduced, above all, by the prospect of a new life in the New World, Americans and Europeans came determined to put down roots and prosper.
Seduced by the government's offer of 320 acres per homesteader, Americans and Europeans rushed to Montana and the Dakotas to fulfill their own American dream in the first decade of this century. Raban's stunning evocation of the harrowing, desperate reality behind the homesteader's dream strips away the myth--while preserving the romance--that has shrouded our understanding of our own heartland.
Journeys beyond the myth of the American West to reveal the harsh and desperate realities of the homesteaders' lives, offering an incisive portrait of the American heartland that redefines the essence of the American dream. 30,000 first printing. Tour.
"When Dad came out here, he had twenty-five dollars, a wagon, and a mule." So begins the stories of countless homesteaders who, in the first decades of this century, seized an astounding government offer: three hundred and twenty free acres in the stark, dry Plains of Montana and the Dakotas. Seduced by the promises from railroad companies, by liberal credit from bankers, and by scientific claims about dry-land farming; seduced, above all, by the prospect of a new life in the New World, Americans and Europeans came determined to put down roots and prosper.
Seduced by the government's offer of 320 acres per homesteader, Americans and Europeans rushed to Montana and the Dakotas to fulfill their own American dream in the first decade of this century. Raban's stunning evocation of the harrowing, desperate reality behind the homesteader's dream strips away the myth--while preserving the romance--that has shrouded our understanding of our own heartland.
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- New York : Pantheon Books, 1996.
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