Wilderness Plots is made up of fifty brief tales that chronicle the period of settlement of the Ohio Valley, roughly 1780 to 1850. Beginning with the discovery of the Ohio River by La Salle and ending with the Civil War, this region was the West, the exciting new frontier. Written with the power and compression of folklore, these tales bring to life the unmemorialized common folks who carried out this epic adventure. In these pages, you will meet preachers and profiteers, the boy who saved Cleveland, a love-crossed carpenter, generals and journalists, a hermit and a lawyer, farmers and bone collectors, lovers, layabouts, and a host of other high-spirited characters the kind of people who, in all ages, have made history. These stories, which condense entire lifetimes into single paragraphs, come out of a distinctive tradition in American literature. For this book reflects the experience of settling our entire wild, raucous, dangerous, and glorious continent. Our ancestors went through very much the same trials everywhere, from New England to California and Alaska. They wrestled with the land and its inhabitants for more than two centuries before there were any cities or industries to speak of, and since we have all been shaped by that prolonged wrestling, this encounter with the wilderness is one of the deepest, truest, and most abiding subjects in our literature.
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It would be difficult to find richer, more concise prose than that employed by Scott Sanders in this collection. ... Most of these tales resonate with the force of fine lyric poetry, and they come together beautifully to project aspects of the epic an American epic. ... [Wilderness Plots] is a stunning achievement. --The Georgia Review
Sanders's skillful writing makes these Ohio Valley pioneers come alive. He has written vignettes of two or three pages each about the odd and memorable people, and incidents that were talked about for years; the sort of thing that never seems to find its way into history volumes with any regularity. ... This is one of the best books of folk history around. --Sacramento (California) Bee
The language of these tales is chiseled, spare to the point of folklore: every word carries a lovely weight. ... Seldom has America's early story been so beautifully told. ... The book should appeal to anyone interested in Americana. It almost demands rereading: some may find its cumulative effect similar to that of Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology. --Publishers Weekly
Sanders's skillful writing makes these Ohio Valley pioneers come alive. He has written vignettes of two or three pages each about the odd and memorable people, and incidents that were talked about for years; the sort of thing that never seems to find its way into history volumes with any regularity. ... This is one of the best books of folk history around. --Sacramento (California) Bee
The language of these tales is chiseled, spare to the point of folklore: every word carries a lovely weight. ... Seldom has America's early story been so beautifully told. ... The book should appeal to anyone interested in Americana. It almost demands rereading: some may find its cumulative effect similar to that of Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology. --Publishers Weekly
Sanders's skillful writing makes these Ohio Valley pioneers come alive. He has written vignettes of two or three pages each about the odd and memorable people, and incidents that were talked about for years; the sort of thing that never seems to find its way into history volumes with any regularity. ... This is one of the best books of folk history around. --Sacramento (California) Bee
The language of these tales is chiseled, spare to the point of folklore: every word carries a lovely weight. ... Seldom has America's early story been so beautifully told. ... The book should appeal to anyone interested in Americana. It almost demands rereading: some may find its cumulative effect similar to that of Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology. --Publishers Weekly
Sanders's skillful writing makes these Ohio Valley pioneers come alive. He has written vignettes of two or three pages each about the odd and memorable people, and incidents that were talked about for years; the sort of thing that never seems to find its way into history volumes with any regularity. ... This is one of the best books of folk history around. --Sacramento (California) Bee
The language of these tales is chiseled, spare to the point of folklore: every word carries a lovely weight. ... Seldom has America's early story been so beautifully told. ... The book should appeal to anyone interested in Americana. It almost demands rereading: some may find its cumulative effect similar to that of Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology. --Publishers Weekly
Sanders's skillful writing makes these Ohio Valley pioneers come alive. He has written vignettes of two or three pages each about the odd and memorable people, and incidents that were talked about for years; the sort of thing that never seems to find its way into history volumes with any regularity. ... This is one of the best books of folk history around. --Sacramento (California) Bee
The language of these tales is chiseled, spare to the point of folklore: every word carries a lovely weight. ... Seldom has America's early story been so beautifully told. ... The book should appeal to anyone interested in Americana. It almost demands rereading: some may find its cumulative effect similar to that of Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology. --Publishers Weekly
Sanders's skillful writing makes these Ohio Valley pioneers come alive. He has written vignettes of two or three pages each about the odd and memorable people, and incidents that were talked about for years; the sort of thing that never seems to find its way into history volumes with any regularity. ... This is one of the best books of folk history around. --Sacramento (California) Bee
The language of these tales is chiseled, spare to the point of folklore: every word carries a lovely weight. ... Seldom has America's early story been so beautifully told. ... The book should appeal to anyone interested in Americana. It almost demands rereading: some may find its cumulative effect similar to that of Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology. --Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Born in Tennessee and reared in Ohio, Scott Russell Sanders studied in Rhode Island and in Cambridge, England, before going on to become a Distinguished Professor of English at Indiana University. Among his more than twenty books are novels, collections of stories, and works of personal nonfiction, including Staying Put, Hunting for Hope, and A Private History of Awe. His writing has won the AWP Creative Nonfiction Award, the John Burroughs Essay Award, and the Lannan Literary Award. He and his wife, Ruth, a biochemist, have reared two children in their hometown of Bloomington, in the hardwood hill country of Indiana s White River Valley.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By Ingrid Mail
Format:Paperback
Fifty tiny tales, each exquisitely told, chronicle the settling of the Ohio River Valley. Scott Russell Sanders is a fabulous storyteller who collects the curiosities that would have travelled far by word of mouth in an earlier time. Sanders calls these "tales, stories provoked by germs of fact, rather than history." The characters are mostly forgotten--Indians, surveyors and drunks, flustered judges, animals fierce and tame, gravepickers, newborns, clergy and lovers. Taken together, the stories function like a fine illustration in a history book, artfully fleshing out the facts so that our understanding is deepened. This is a perfect book for a history lover, a bedtime reader or a lover of the quirky. I was glad to find it still in print.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought copies of this to hand out as gifts, being from the Ohio Valley area. It's a great window into the details of our past! Highly recommend!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By M. MCCLURE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This was especially interesting because of its tales of southeastern Ohio and areas there that I know. It's easy reading and well written. I liked the library copy so much I bought this copy for a friend with children.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great
came so quickly! and I love this book! ordered this one as a gift, will definitely order another for myself, and probably more as gifts.
Published 12 months ago by EW
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stepping off concept for your own family's stories
Not only was this a very intriguing book to dip into, it gave me an idea of a new way to present some aspects of family history. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Susan C. Hopkins
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