Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary Journey into the American Grasslands

240 Pages·2004·1 MB·English

by  John Price

NotJustAnyLand
Just Any Land Not Just Any Land Not Just Any Land Not Just Any Land Not Just Any Land Not Just Any Land Not Just Any
Not Just Any Land Not Just Any Land Not Just Any Land Not Just Any Land Not Just Any Land Not Just Any Land Not
A Personal and Literary Journey into the American Grasslands
john price
University of Nebraska Press : Lincoln & London
Acknowledgmentsforpreviouslypublishedmaterial
appearonpagesx–xi.
©2004bytheBoardofRegentsoftheUniversityof
Nebraska.Allrightsreserved.TypesetinTrinité.
BookdesignbyRichardEckersley.Manufacturedin
theUnitedStatesofAmerica.(cid:4)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Price,John,1966–
Notjustanyland:apersonalandliteraryjourney
intotheAmericangrasslands/JohnPrice.
p.cm. Includesbibliographicalreferences.
isbn0-8032-3707-3(cloth:alkalinepaper)
1.Americanproseliterature–GreatPlains–History
andcriticism. 2.Price,John,1966–Homesand
haunts–GreatPlains. 3.Authors,American–Homes
andhaunts–GreatPlains. 4.GreatPlains–
Biography–Historyandcriticism. 5.GreatPlains–
Intellectuallife–20thcentury. 6.GreatPlains–
Descriptionandtravel. 7.HeatMoon,WilliamLeast–
Interviews. 8.O’Brien,Dan,1947–Interviews.
9.Hasselstrom,LindaM.–Interviews. 10.Swander,
Mary–Interviews. 11.Grasslands–West(U.S.)
i.Title.
ps274.p752004 810.9'978–dc22 2003016610
Formyparents
AndStephanie

Contents
ix Acknowledgments
chapter 1
1 TheFirstMiracleofthePrairie:
BuffaloGap,SouthDakota
chapter 2
31 ReachingYarak:
ThePeregrinationsofDanO’Brien
chapter 3
65 NotJustAnyLand:
LindaHasselstromatHome
chapter 4
93 NativeDreams:
WilliamLeastHeat-Moonand
ChaseCounty,Kansas
chapter 5
159 AHealingHome:
MarySwander’sRecoveryamong
theIowaAmish
chapter 6
199 WhatThisPrairieWillAwaken:
WalnutCreekNationalWildlife
Refuge
213 Notes
221 Bibliography

Acknowledgments
Thisisamemoir.Itrecallsatime,nearlyadecadeago,whenIem-
barkedonapersonalandliteraryjourneytobetterunderstandmy
relationshiptohome.Thenarratorisalsoofthattime,andthough
my life has moved forward and my thinking about the issues has
expanded—thanksto,amongotherthings,thegrowingnumberof
authorsandscholarsinthefield—Ihavedonemybesttostayclose
tothatearlierself,howeverlimited.Todootherwisewouldbetovio-
latetheoriginalintentionofthebook,whichistobearwitnesstothe
beginningofonewriter’sconsciouscommitmenttoplace.Somuch
ofcontemporaryenvironmentalwritingfocusesonthosewhoareal-
readyinsidecommitmentandnotenoughonthosewhoarestrug-
glingtofindthedoor.Findingthatdoorisoftenanawkward,con-
tradictory,andpainfulprocess—butalsohumorous,inspiring,and
transformative.Tothesereaders,Ihopethisbookisofsomehelp.
Thememoirformhasposedadditionalchallengeswithregardto
the authors I interviewed. Their lives and careers, like mine, have
movedforward.I’vetriedtoprovidebriefupdatesinthenotes,but
I encourage those interested in catching up with the lives of these
writerstoreadtheirmorerecentnonfiction,someofwhichI’velisted
in the bibliography. What hasn’t changed, however, is my debt of
gratitude to Dan, Linda, William, and Mary—for their books and
theirpersonalgenerosity.Itbeganwhentheyansweredtheinquiries
of an unknown graduate student, agreeing to lengthy interviews
and,insomecases,invitinghimintotheirlives.Theyhavecontinued
tobegenerous,providinghonestandconstructivesuggestionsdur-
ingtherevisionprocess.Icannotexpressinwordsmyappreciation
—withouttheirexample,Iwouldnothavefoundmywayhomeas
awriter.
Therearemanyotherswhomadethisbookpossible.Inaddition
tothosementionedinthechapters,I’dliketothankthosewhoread
andcommentedonearlierdrafts,thosewhoassistedmeinmyre-