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Great Plains (Paperback)

by Ian Frazier (Author) "AWAY to the Great Plains of America, to that immense Western short-grass prairie now mostly plowed under!..." (more)
Key Phrases: yellow earring, confluence area, tipi poles, Crazy Horse, Great Plains, Sitting Bull (more...)
4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Frazier, staff writer for the New Yorker and author of Dating Your Mom , here explores the Great Plains at random, seeking the past and embracing the present. According to PW , "This is an engaging blend of travelogue, local color, geography and folklore." Photos. 100,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review
“Extraordinary...One thinks of such American originals as John McPhee,
Wallace Stegner, Edward Hoagland, Peter Matthiessen, and Evan S. Connell.” —The Washington Post Book World

“This is a brillant, funny, and altogether perfect book, soaked in research and then aired out on the open plains to evaporate the excess, leaving this modern masterpiece. It makes me want to get in a truck and drive straight out to North Dakota and look at the prairie.” —Garrison Keillor

“History written with passion and delight... Frazier is a great storyteller.” —Newsweek
-- Review

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Product Details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (May 4, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312278500
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312278502
  • Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #194,159 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category: (What's this?)

    #40 in  Books > Travel > United States > Regions > Central

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Customer Reviews

26 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly engaging for the armchair Plains historian!, December 12, 1998
By bralston@uswest.net (Olympia, Washington) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Great Plains (Paperback)
I first read this book in a writing class in college and just recently reread it. If you're at all interested in what really goes on "beyond the plane window" down on the ground in the Great Plains geographical region you will most certainly enjoy this book. What I appreciated most was Frazier's ability to link the often colorful historical past of this region to the modern day present conditions. Pulling us backward and forward in time, Frazier gives us an engaging, humorous, and historically informative review of some of the Great Plains most well remembered events. Fortunately, often Frazier unintentionally shows his biases (always softening them with humor) on certain themes: strip mining, the Herb Clutter "In Cold Blood" murders, the Indian Crazy Horse, the military's placement of ICBMs on the northern plains, and Lawrence Welk. Great Plains is an entertaining and excellent read, especially on a flight from New York to Los Angeles. Just read and look down at the ground outside the window! I recommend it wholeheartedly.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Marvelous, funny, poignant, dazzlingly well written, October 7, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Great Plains (Paperback)
This is a wonderful book. I've read it several times and each time it knocks me out. It begins with six sentences in a row that end in exclamation marks and has a scene about a local fashion show that summarizes the lost possibilities of America as well as anything I've read. It tells the story of Indians in the plains and the story of white people and why the author decided never again to cut his hair. And it is a museum of writerly virtues -- Frazier seems incapable of putting together a sentence without an unexpected but perfect swerve in it towards the end.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating introduction to the Great Plains, March 13, 2000
By Mitchell Ayer (Katy, Tx USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Great Plains (Paperback)
Ian Frazier is a skillful writer of non fiction. I would compare this book to John McPhee's Coming Into the Country. Frazier traveled some 25,000 miles across the Great Plains states that is from the Dakotas to Texas. He has tried (successfully) to distill the essence of the Great Plains in this regrettably short book. We learn where tumbleweed comes from-the steppes of Russia, what it's like to operate a Minuteman silo, how immigrants were enticed to come to the Great Plains. That the railroads wanted Germans but no French or Italians. Financing of agriculture is discussed-no loans west of the 100th Meridian. He writes of the the Dust Bowl and the population declines in 2/3rds of the counties. How an agricultural agent went to the steppes of Russia to get hardy wheat seeds and led to the popularity of pasta. This is not a travel guide. If you want detailed travel information, I suggest the Off the Beaten Path series of the Dakotas, Nebraska. and the other Plains states. The book could have been longer and better organized. For example the author mentions Odessa but does not mention the meteor craters, the million barrel tank, the Moynihan (sp?) sanddunes, the Mojo. He mentions the Black Hills but not pitchfork fondue. If you plan on going through the Plains states, you should read this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars great plains
I liked this book very much. It is complicated, interesting, informative and a good study of the 10 plains state and which part of them contains the actual plains. Read more
Published 13 days ago by Josephine Briggs

4.0 out of 5 stars Sure is flat, isn't it?
Great Plains is an enjoyable book, a sweeping, eclectic view of a part of America many of us see only from airplane windows. Read more
Published 20 days ago by Dennis Waters

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Plains is great reading.
Wallace Stegner has written beautifully of the northern Great Plains (specifically Saskatchewan and Montana), and some small sense of similarity will occur naturally when reading... Read more
Published on November 12, 2006 by Wesley L. Janssen

5.0 out of 5 stars I learned a lot
While reading this book, I found myself compelled to read parts aloud to my husband: about where tumbleweed came from, facts about different Indian tribes, Bonnie and Clyde,... Read more
Published on June 4, 2006 by Sammy Madison

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money.
Mr. Frazier gives a pretty good litany of historical facts, but his haphazard presentation leaves one to wonder whether he was totally coherent during his two years on the plains... Read more
Published on February 16, 2005 by Timothy Hindman

5.0 out of 5 stars Plain Joy
Let me add just these two things to the remarks of the many other reviewers: Ian Frazier's rhapsodic discussion of the joy the Great Plains engender (like the mysticism of deserts... Read more
Published on July 13, 2004 by Ross E. Nelson

4.0 out of 5 stars The America that never was and will be again.
Frazier's book portrays the middle of America truly and entertainingly. He basically condenses his wanderings through the plains region of America into several vignettes,... Read more
Published on April 2, 2004 by Mark E. Baxter

5.0 out of 5 stars Audio Version is a Great Journey
I thoroughly enjoyed the audio tape version of this book and wished it were longer. If there was an unabridged version, I would buy it. Read more
Published on December 29, 2003 by David Ciaffardini

3.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to the Great Plains
This book was recommended to me as a good read before embarking on a road trip to North Dakota this summer. Read more
Published on July 18, 2003 by B. G. O'Sullivan-Hale

5.0 out of 5 stars Let's Go Right Now!
Imagine a car trip thru the Plains states with Umberto Eco and Bill Bryson. You are along in the back seat. As you drive along Umberto enlightens on western lore.... Read more
Published on May 31, 2003

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