Review
"The Nebraska Dispatches refrains from bravado or overstatement; nevertheless, it is an intense and dynamic book. Cartmill is expert at relating his own story and just enough information about the Poncas, Standing Bear, and other Plains Indians. He intertwines these sagas to make them part of a larger story of America and how Americans connect to home. In the end, Cartmill proves Wolfe wrong. Not only can one go home again, but there can be much to be learned from the experience."—John Michael Senger, ForeWord Reviews
(John Michael Senger
ForeWord Reviews )
"Refined into a small book, the interplay of the mundane and the mysterious in Cartmill''s memories powerfully is affecting."—Nina Murray, Nebraska Life
(Nina Murray
Nebraska Life )
“Delightfully intimate yet soaringly ambitious, Christopher Cartmill’s lovely and lovingly told memoir of his journey through personal and national history is a fascinating meditation on the infinite meanings of home. This is a terrific nonfiction debut from a terrifically gifted writer.”—Adam Langer, author of Ellington Boulevard and My Father’s Bonus March
(Adam Langer )
“It is not as a disinterested witness that Christopher Cartmill embarked on this extraordinary exploration, but as a passionate participant, often literally risking body and soul, with a clear eye, a probing intellect, and a compassionate and fearless heart. The result is a fascinating, and very moving, chronicle of his journey.”—Eva Rubinstein, actress and internationally acclaimed photographer
(Eva Rubinstsein )
“The Nebraska Dispatches sensitively chronicles a time when paths crossed—when the past intertwined with the present and remade a future.”—Renee Sans Souci, Umonhon (Omaha) poet
(Renee Sans Souci )
“Cartmill writes with such power and beauty. The Nebraska Dispatches resonated with me personally. Even though our experiences are of course different in the discovery journey that led to our respective projects . . . there are many deep and striking resonances.”—Jocelyn McKinnon, lecturer at The University of Newcastle, Australia, and creator of the performance piece, Listening: Indigenous Stories from the Central Coast
(Jocelyn McKinnon )
About the Author
A playwright, actor, and director, Christopher Cartmill teaches at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. His plays have earned awards from the Kennedy Center, Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Committee, and the Los Angeles Drama-Logues. Nebraska’s Lied Center for the Performing Arts commissioned Cartmill to write a play about Chief Standing Bear, and the experience of writing this play, titled Home Land, became the solo performance, The Nebraska Dispatches.
