An American Corner of the World - by David J Wishart (Paperback)

About the Book

In this deep geography, An American Corner of the World uses Richardson County, Nebraska, as a case study of the development and decline of rural communities in the northern Great Plains.

Book Synopsis

An American Corner of the World is a deep geography of an American place: Richardson County, Nebraska. It tells the story of the changing patterns and rhythms of life there, from the first occupants, hunters and gatherers thousands of years ago, right through almost to the present. In one sense, it is a county history, but in another sense it is a case study, representative of innumerable rural counties throughout the Midwest and Great Plains that experienced similar stages of initial rapid population growth and subsequent sustained population decline.

Why, then, select Richardson County, when so many other suitable case studies could have been chosen? The answer lies in the enduring presence of Native Americans, with the Iowa and Sac and Fox reservations still occupying the southern reaches of the county. Their experiences over time are also representative of those of other Native American nations across the country, though again expressed locally in distinctive ways. This juxtaposition of accounts of Native American dispossession and American succession allows a fuller story to be told than if only one side were related--and it identifies Richardson County as an intrinsically American corner of the world.

Review Quotes

"Thank you to the Nebraska State Historical Society . . . for publishing this volume that addresses without blinders both the good and what is worrisome in the story of Richardson County, Nebraska, and by example, the forces that have created in various ways today's middle America."--Michael J. Smith, Nebraska History

About the Author

David J. Wishart is an emeritus professor of geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the editor of Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Nebraska, 2004) and Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Indians (Nebraska, 2007), and the author of several books, including An Unspeakable Sadness: The Dispossession of the Nebraska Indians (Nebraska, 1997).