The Buffalo Commons [Hardcover]

Richard S. Wheeler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

Long ago the High Plains were fought over, and the losers shipped to reservations. Now the High Plains are being fought over again, and the ranchers and farmers who have put down roots there fear they may be ejected. Richard S. Wheeler pits these opposing forces against each other and creates a taut drama about the impact of new ideas upon settled ways of life Regional author tour. .

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

Multipublishable Montanan Wheeler, who apparently writes with three hands at once (over 30 novels, and see below), and who won the Spur Award for Sierra (1996), now gets doubly serious in treating a controversial modern subject: Laslo Honorey, a zillionaire, wants to defeat the spread of agribusiness on the High Plains and--along with federal regulators and environmentalists--nationalize thousands of miles of grasslands and rebuild them as buffalo grazing grounds (a ``buffalo commons''). But what of the Nichols family, which has ranched the grasslands for over a century? Must their way of life fade away? Thrumming at an appreciably deeper level of feeling than ever before, Wheeler should attract fresh readers. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

"This book touches the heart."--El Paso Times

"[Adds] a dimension to an already inventive writer."--Rocky Mountain News

"A taut drama about one of the most controversial issues in the modern West....Magnificent, believable characters....This is a fine novel.....It is as timely as tomorrow's newspaper and once started, it is hard to put down. Wheeler has another award winner on his hands."--Tulsa World

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 382 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312862628
• ISBN-13: 978-0312862626
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,259,306 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Richard Wheeler began a late-in-life career as a novelist at age fifty, and by his seventy-fifth year had written seventy novels. He began life as a newsman and later became a book editor, but turned to fiction full time in 1985.

He started by writing traditional westerns but soon was writing large-scale historical novels and then biographical novels. In recent years he has been writing mysteries as well, some as Axel Brand. His Lieutenant Joe Sonntag series occurs in 1940s Milwaukee, and focuses on life in a big, smoky industrial city just after World War Two.

He has won numerous awards, including the Owen Wister Award for lifetime achievement in the literature of the American West, and also six Spur Awards from Western Writers of America. He has received more Spur Awards than any other living author.

He grew up in Wisconsin and migrated West, holding newspaper jobs in Phoenix, Oakland, Carson City, and Billings. His wife, Sue Hart, is an English professor at Montana State University in Billings.

He has been focusing more and more on biographical novels. One of these, published in March, 2010, is called Snowbound, and is about the explorer John C. Fremont's tragic fourth expedition. It won a Spur Award.


For a quarter of a century he's largely made his living from writing fiction. That reality astonishes him. In his mid-seventies now, he is still dreaming up new stories.

Note: There are other Richard Wheelers writing books. One is an historian of the Civil War, and another writes histories of the Marine Corps, and another is a social scientist. Richard S. Wheeler is the novelist.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buffalo Commons, May 24, 2000

By 

kay m. Roam (Arizona) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Buffalo Commons (Hardcover)

As a homesick former Montanan, I loved this book. Wheeler does such a great job of an even-handed presentation of the pros and cons of ranchers versus restorers. I sort of resented the "feds' being cast as the villains, since I know many of them and they are sincere, caring people who want the best for the land and its inhabitants, but I am also aware that the individuals who work for the agencies are often the victims themselves of political agendas. Kind of an old-fashioned novel--heros were flawed, but good-villains were BAD--made it fun to read.Wheeler obviously had done his homework--lots of fascinating information presented in a readable, entertaining manner. Well worth the read,

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars With Whom do I Side?, December 17, 1999

By 

brian welch - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Buffalo Commons (Hardcover)

I was kept in constat limbo. Do I side with the environmentalists, or do i let my humanitarian side shine through? Wheeler gave me a great perspective of what is going on in the minds of everybody involved during a major environmental policy change. I liked this because this broad array of view points are rarely convayed in most environmental liturature. I felt there was no "protagonist" per say. The protagonist was actually whomever you wanted it to be, it depends on the view point in which you are reading. I thank Wheeler for writing this book in such a manner.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A modern masterpiece of the American West., March 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Buffalo Commons (Hardcover)

Richard Wheeler has written many--perhaps most--of the best historical novels of the American West available today and it is time for this Montanan to be enjoying as wide an audience as a writer of his gifts deserves. BUFFALO COMMONS is a Wheeler masterpiece, a modern story of the conflict between an idealistic environmentalist (with the money to make his dreams realities) and the ranching folk whose old, honest, productive way of life stands in the way of a retrograde "progress" toward returning the land to the buffalo. There have been comparisons made in reviews of Wheeler's book to Nicholas Evans' much-ballyhoo'd THE LOOP. There is no comparison. Wheeler's story is infinitely richer, more compelling and thought-provoking.