Tallgrass [Hardcover]

Don Coldsmith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 1997

Tallgrass begins in the 16th century with the arrival of the first Spanish conquistadors, and sweeps the reader into the mammoth cultural clash between these newcomers and the native Americans already there: Osage, Pawnee, Comanche, Cheyenne, and more. This is the saga of the warriors, priests, trappers, traders, explorers, schemers, and other pioneers who come alive in these pages.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Taking a break from his Spanish Bit Saga (Bearer of the Pipe, etc.), Coldsmith delivers a meticulously detailed, sweeping tale of Native American life and the gradual encroachment by the white man's world. Covering nearly 300 years of North American prairie history, the novel consists of seven loosely connected stories. The first begins in 1541, when the Spanish arrive on the continent and peacefully encounter the Pani tribe. At this time, Heron Woman conceives a child with a Spaniard, the first of many unions in the book. More than 100 years later, tensions arise between the natives and the settlers, resulting in conflict and massacre. The stories continue with a French ambassador in 1724; the heirs of Lewis and Clark and further expeditions in the West; the legacy of Daniel Boone; and the opening of commerce and the Santa Fe Trail in the 1820s. They end in 1835, when a Princeton dropout, who has been living with a Native American tribe, returns home to "civilization" for a brief visit. Coldsmith is a master storyteller, who here offers a colorful and clever lesson in history, bringing to life the experience of people discovering, trusting and adapting to each other in uncertain and wondrous times.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Coldsmith, the author of numerous books of historical fiction set in the U.S. West, has penned an expansive saga concerning the opening of the Santa Fe Trail. Starting with the coming of the Spanish conquistadors in 1541, his work spans 300 years to a time when the fur trade has died, Eastern Native Americans have been relocated onto lands west of the Mississippi, and conflict is building between the Plains Indians and Eastern interlopers, both Indian and white. Coldsmith focuses on a tribe of Pawnee and the devastation that contact with whites brings. This powerful novel demonstrates the diversity of the Native American culture while treating the tribes and their history with dignity and understanding. A book that will be remembered and savored long after the covers are closed.
-?Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; 1ST edition (March 31, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553106325
• ISBN-13: 978-0553106329
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,867,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You can only expect something great from Don Coldsmith., February 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Tallgrass (Hardcover)

I have been fortunate enough to read all of Don Coldsmith's novels ever since I was given one of the Spanish Bit Sagas by my wife. Ever since then I have been on a mission to read his books. I was really pleased when "Tallgrass" was released. Since I live in region that the novels take place I can almost put myself into the story. The research that Dr. Coldsmith put into writing so that it would be relatively historically accurate. "Tallgrass" is an easy book to read for anyone. I strongly recommend "Tallgrass" for those looking for an bit of light history to read.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Tallgrass, March 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Tallgrass (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of those rare books which give me considerable pleasure to put down, as in unfinished.The author has taken a history of the great plains and written short stories in a timeline with all the political correctness of modern society.You have a women becoming aware of her own sexuality in the early 1500's in a place where the daily struggles for mere survival would have to be parimount to daily life. We have our race equality issue taken place in the 1800's.At this point I put the book down.I'm not a bigot.I just didn't need these issues brought up in a book about the history of the plains.In short this is a great(yea right) work of fiction geared to a seventh grade reader. I suggest "Ride The Wind" by St Clair I believe, a much more enjoyable novel about the plains