Oklahoma Books

The true and tragic story of a mother's untimely death while shopping for cleaning supplies in a Wal-Mart (SAMS Club). The story is prefaced with wonderful background of life and family in rural Oklahoma. Imagine being a little girl so poor that you accompany your Father to buy chicken feed...so you can pick out the sacks...for your next dress. The family ties, loyalty to family, and love of family are refreshing in an age where families fall apart at an alarming rate. The heartless and callous behavior of Wal-Mart executives after the death is shocking (NOTE: Hitlary Clinton was on the Board of Directors). The court battle that develops is a true "David vs. Goliath" story as Wal-Mart's corporate attorney takes on the families life-long friend, a simple "country" attorney. The intensity and suspense of the court battle will keep you reading. Shame on Wal-Mart and SAM's club for focusing on corporate greed instead of customer safety. This book would make a good movie.

Judith Cain Dotson's first book is a smooth read. It is a journey from the tragedy of her mother's untimely death to a family's realization that while they cannot "bring back" their mother, their efforts to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening to others is one way to keep her memory alive. Ms. Dotson's courage to write about her mother's death and the events that followed makes for a "David and Goliath" tale that's a must read!

Heads up! It seems that preventable accidental death is cost effective where America shops. The sounds of forklifts and the sight of merchandise stacked hight are all ploys to give the shopper the illusion that they are getting a great deal. What the shopper doesn't realize and what Dolly Cain discovered is that the ambiance of a bargain warehouse is the prime objective--not the safety of the customer. An occasional incident is acceptable to the bottom line. Judith Cain Dotson, the Cain family cantadora, has put a face on one such 1985 incident. In Final Touch we have the pleasure of meeting Dolly Bryant Cain. Mrs. Cain was one of the outstanding memebers of what Tom Brokaw has labeled the Greatest Generation. Dolly was a loving wife, mother, artist, and poet. At the time of her death she had successfully battled cancer. In one of Mrs. Cain's poems she asks, "What would you think if in the morning/When you looked upon the clock--/If the time was moving backwards,/If yesterday were tomorrow, t'would be awkward." Turning yesterday into today is what Judith Dotson does as she takes us through her mother's life. In Final Touch we meet a joyous woman that supported her family while reciting poetry, a farm woman that was known to gift-wrap chicken feet, a woman that kenw how to find joy in the moment.

If Dolly Cain could turn back the hands of time, she would join her daughter and the readers of this book in demanding that the super discount stores take the forklifts out of their stores during business hours. According to Dotson, there have been, "Over 30,000 falling merchandise accidents from 1989-1997 in the Wal-Mart system." Final Touch is a must read for any American that shops in warehouse type stores.

"A two-faced weasel is someone who shows one face in public but hides another face for his evil deeds," Mr. Morrison said. He turned around and parted his hair. "Do you see another face back there?"

Mr. Morrison is the flimflam man in this story, and he has conned two vulnerable girls, former foes who gradually become friends, into helping him promote a circus that is supposedly coming to town.

This story, a chapter book written at about the third grade level, appeals to students all the way up to 6th grade in our school. It has a genuine feel for small town Wetumka, Oklahoma, in 1950, which is where this historical fiction story (based on actual events) takes place. Darleen Bailey Beard makes the plot and characters work on at least two levels: first, it serves as a warning that not everyone can be trusted, and secondly, it's a heartwarming tale about a friendship that develops out of adversity.

The lessons taught in this short (85 page) book are those that children need to hear. Recommended.

This book was very good. I read it because the author was coming to my school. When I first heard she was coming, I wasn't that excited. Then, after I read this book, I couldn't wait! I think you would like this book.

Darleen Beard's book, The Flim Flam Man, made me laugh out loud. Kids of all ages will this tale and, at the same time, learn a little about Oklahoma history, too. Can't wait for this author's next book!

What fun!

Fort Robinson, located in northwestern Nebraska, played an important role in the affairs between the military and the Indians on the Plains. Thomas Buecker's history of the fort is both informative and a delight to read.

Fort Robinson was established in 1874 after troubles occurred at the nearby Red Cloud agency. Intended at first to be only a temporary cantonment, it wasn't long before the strategic importance of the fort was realized. Unable to stem the tide of gold prospectors into the Black Hills, soldiers from the fort played an important part in the Great Sioux War that followed. The successful expedition against Dull Knife was launched from there. In 1877, the fort witnessed one of its greatest tragedies when it became the place where Crazy Horse was stabbed and killed, although two years later this notoriety was almost matched when 64 Northern Cheyenne were killed when trying to escape. In the 1880s, the fort became the base of operations for the Ninth Cavalry, the "Buffalo Soldiers." The Ghost Dance uprising at nearby Pine Ridge in 1890 was the last great event involving troops at Fort Robinson. The fort became a sleepy reminder of times gone by by the end of the century when Buecker's account ends, though the fort was brought back to life during both World Wars as a supply and training center, and as a POW camp. Today it's a handsome park with an excellent small museum.

Buecker, who was (is still?) the curator of the Fort Robinson Museum, has written a wonderful book on the fort. Historically detailed, Buecker is also careful to relate what life was like for the soldiers who lived there. It gives an excellent view of not only a specific place, but of a time too. Also useful for historians is Appendix A in which Buecker lists all the military units that ever served at the fort. It's a great book on the American West. Highly recommended.

I have read a number of histories of frontier posts over the years and this one exceeds them all. Mr. Buecker provides an immense amount of detail on how Fort Robinson came into being and all that transpired there from 1874-1899. On that count, its past is far more interesting than that of some of the post-Sioux War posts such as Fort Meade or Fort Custer. Camp Robinson (as it was still known in 1877) was the scene for the dramatic and tragic death of Crazy Horse in September of that year. In January, 1879 Fort Robinson played host to another dramatic event as the Cheyenne imprisoned there after taking leave of their Oklahoma reservation attempted to break out and continue their journey to their traditional Montana homeland. The author provides a very good, concise telling of that event.

Beyond that, Mr. Buecker constantly reminds us that for most of the time, normal garrison duty occupied the various companies stationed there over the years. He does a very good job in describing what constituted the way of life for the officers and enlisted men stationed there. In the 1880s, the garrison included the famed Buffalo Soldiers of the Ninth U.S. Cavalry. He also explores the complex relationship that existed between the soldiers and the Lakota of the nearby Red Cloud agency during the early years of Robinson's existance. The relationships were varied and alive (for example, Chief Spotted Tail dined with offices in their quarters), not the one-dimensional, frontier soldiers hating/abusing the Indians as modern myth so often erroneously portrays late 19th century Frontier Military-Indian interaction.

If you are interested in the Sioux Wars, the frontier military, Crazy Horse, the Northern Cheyenne or the Buffalo Soldiers, you should not be disappointed in this book. It should be added that Mr. Buecker was well-prepared to tell the story of Fort Robinson since he serves as the curator of the Fort Robinson Museum in northwest Nebraska. I must also add that both the Museum and the present-day fort (now a state park) are well worth a visit.

Fort Robinson And The American West 1874-1899 by Thomas R. Buecker (Curator of the Fort Robinson Museum in Crawford, Nebraska) is a close and authoritative look at Fort Robinson, a place that witnessed many stark and brutal clashes between whites and American Indians, including the Cheyenne Outbreak, the death of Crazy Horse, the Ghost Dance, and the tragedy of Wounded Knee. Historic references, government records, reports, correspondence and other primary sources form the core of this thoughtful, sober, scholarly analysis, which is a welcome contribution to American History shelves, Native American Studies collections, those reading lists dealing with the history of the American Western Frontier.

From desciptions of the Durfee and Peck traders to the health conditions at the fort, the construction of the fort itself...a work to be enjoyed. You can feel yourself sliding back in time, to the shores of the Missouri, when there was little west of you except open land and Indians. I relished this book, enjoyed each and every page.

Fort Union And The Upper Missouri Fur Trade by Barton H. Barbour (Assistant Professor of History, Boise State University), is a comprehensive history of the city of Fort Union, one of the most important and enduring fur-trading posts of the nineteenth century. Historian and author Barton Barbour transport the reader to a yesteryear teeming hub of communication and activity between pioneers, Native Americans, trappers, traders, and more. An involving discussion of the legal, political, and sociocultural influence this trading hub had upon American history, Fort Union And The Upper Missouri Fur Trade is an impressive work of deftly presented scholarship which has clearly earned its finalist ranking for the 2002 Western Writers of America Spur Award in the Best Western Nonfiction-Historical category.

When I found that I would be moving to Williston, ND, (25 years ago) I checked to see what all was in the area. I was pleased to notice that the North Unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park was in the next county. I also noticed that there was a National Historic Site nearby as well. The National Park is nice but I have been to the Fort Union National Historic Site far more often. I discovered that a significant chapter in our nation's history took place at the nearby confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. Thanks to this scholarly work by Barton Barbour, I have been able to read the most focussed, well-written, engrossing book ever published on this local monument.

When I came to this area, the site was comprised of a trailer home Ranger office/Visitor's Center and a roped out layout of where the various parts of the fort used to be. The subsequent reconstruction of the site (which was financed, in part, by significant local contributions) has resulted in a site that looks as impressive as its' history. Much of the local focus seemed to be about the many "celebrities" who came here during the fort's heyday. While there are many well-researched work about the Fur Trade, Barbour's book elevates the level of discourse to an analysis of significant issues. He presents a compelling theory that the fur-trading communities of the Upper Missouri exemplified a society of diversity that was well ahead of its' time. While there were hierarchies involved, there was also a recognition that all parties were interdependant of each other. The resulting respect and cooperation was well beyond the societal norms of the rest of European-settled America. Ironically, this existed at the same time the rest of the USA was fighting the Civil War over, in part, issues of racial equality.

There are chapters that examine the nature of the fur-trading industry and its' relationship to other industries as well as to the US Government and its' various agencies. These 2-3 chapters in particular do tend to slow the reading down a bit but Barbour offers a good overview of the Fur Trade's position in the American Economy and legal structure of the times. The political change that arose from the Civil War are stikingly presented by the author.

Mr. Barbour also offers a look at the effect that the Fur Trade had on the Native American Culture as well as its' impact on the Arts and Science of an emerging nation. He shows how the needs of trader and Indian alike created a market place that was respectful of each. The overhead may have been high but the quality was very good. His conclusions challenge many of the more recent stereotypes of European-American interaction with Native societies.

Barton Barbour has succeeded in creating a much-needed overview of the Upper Missouri Fur Trade. His analysis of Fort Union as the most significant site of its' kind is well-presented. It is much appreciated by those of us in the Missouri/Yellowstone Confluence area who knew that Fort Union was always more than just another fort on another river.

This is the book to start with for the Quarter Horse pedigree buff. Many pedigree analysts contradict Denhardt from time to time, but be careful, Denhardt was there in the beginning, and did the original research, which was very extensive. He did interviews and collected documents from many of the early Quarter Horse breeders from the late 1800's and early 1900's. A few minor details have since been discovered, and many of those are questionable, but Denhardt was there in the begining and did not have an axe to grind, only love and admiration for good Quarter Horses. He is a straight shooter.

This is a great book, it is very interesting, and tells a lot about the American Quarter Horse, and its sirs.

This is a great book, it has fantastic information about the Quarter horses sires.

Wiley was only 36 when he & Will Rogers died in Alaska in 1935. But in those 36 yrs,he packed the adventures of 3 lifetimes. He was honored at the white House by 2 presidents, cheered by millions al over the world, but in the privacy of his own thoughts he always asked the question, "Is that all there is?"

Bob Burke as set an example for writers and researchers that will be hard to match in his wonderful work on Wiley Post. Aviation buffs, Oklahomans and anyone who appreciates a good book that is hard to put down will appreciate "From Oklahoma to Eternity: The Life of Wiley Post and The Winnie Mae". In addition to his excellent journalistic skills, Burke proves himself to be a superb researcher with a desire to mix truth, fact and adventure with a great story about a great man. I have added this book to my personal list of all time favorites and will look forward to more works by Bob Burke. It is so very refreshing to read history (I am a historian) written honestly without loads of mistakes and sloppy research. Keep that word processor fired up Mr. Burke!

What can be said about the most factual biography written about Wiley Post. Kudos to Bob for telling the story of Wiley Post with the utmost accuracy and authenticity. His work brings to the reader a factual and conceise history of one of the worlds greatest avaitors. Once you start you want to read it from cover to cover. For avaition buffs this is a must read. Not only does it give a great deal of insight to the mentality of a fearless flyer, but provides the reader a look at an uneducated man who by dogged detrmination and force of will, circumnavigated the globe and designed the prototype of the modern space suite.

In reading Western military history, it is so easy to just focus on battles and campaigns, forgetting that most of the time the various infantry and cavalry companies stationed on the frontier were engaged in other pursuits. Tate presents a balanced view of the multifacted frontier army and its various activities, including raising crops to help feed enlisted men, meteorological observations, improving Western transport and communications, protecting National Parks, guarding Indians from white civilains and each other, accompanying exploreers and scientists, the impact of post chapels, schools and libraries, the list goes on as browsing the table of contents will show. Each chapter in the book deals with a differnet aspect of what the frontier army did beyond military campaigns and how that worked, intentionally or not, towards the settlement of the West. In fact, you can almost approach this book as a collection of essays on the fronier army. One thing you won't find is the worn out and untruthful profile of the frontier army as heartless killers of Indians.

I found the most interesting chapter dealt with frontier army literature,covering everything from the the now exceedingly rare copies of fort newspapers to the literary fiction of Charles King, that is still read today.This book marks an important milestone in the historiography of the frontier army and makes a good companion to Edward Coffman's classic THE OLD ARMY, although Coffman's work covers the late 18th century up to the Spanish-American War.

Michael Tate was my history professor at the University of Nebraska, as I found his lectures fascinating, I decided to buy his book. Anyone on any level will not only enjoy this book, but learn a lot as well. Dont pass this book up, add it to your cart now!

I am a Russian-Soviet history specialist. But this era of America's military history is shrouded with inaccuracies and myths and this book does an excellent job of clearing up past questionable material. The author did an excellent job in showing that the U.S. Frontier army did more than chase down Indians to murder and kill them thereby opening up and keeping the frontier safe for the influx of European settlers. The author does a great job of showing that many military officers and enlisted men actually defended the Indians. This will certainly be news for many people who think that the army only tried to kill the Indians. The army posts were a hub of activity concerning domestic duties duties like farming, cleaning, maintanence of equipment and the like. This author did an outstanding job and since this is not my area of specialty, I learned quite a bit from this work. I would strongly recommend this work to anyone interested in the frontier army, its role in the post and outside the post and how that interaction actually took place. This is a must have for any living historian of the frontier era. My compliments to the author on his thorough research and lucid writing style which makes it easy to read, even for a dyslexic like myself.

For anyone interested in garter snakes, this book is the Holy Grail. Its chapters summarize a tremendous amount of work done on the genus, and make this book the one reference to consult first when doing any research on garters. It covers all thirty species, including many from Mexico and Central America for which data is limited and that I had never heard of before. I'm very pleased with it, and refer to it often.

But bear in mind that this a scientific monograph. As monographs go it is surprisingly accessible, but it does not pull any scholarly punches, and some parts of it will be beyond some readers, particularly children. The species key, for example, refers to measurements that no amateur or casual observer would be able to make, but it does so in order to be correct rather than easy.

That garter snake researchers need to own a copy of it goes without saying; amateurs with a serious interest in garters ought to buy it as well.

This wonderful compendium of gartersnake information is a treasure for lovers of Thamnophis. The color plates are wonderful, and the biological information is fascinating. Who would have guessed that some garters actually brumate (hibernate) in water? A great gift for any gartersnake keeper.

There is far too much information in this book to be summarized in a review. Suffice it to say that the book is fascinating: the writing is clear, the conclusions sound, and the research extensive. For most other varieties of snake--other colubrids, boidae, vipers, even elapids--there is no shortage of books, and books covering even individual species are plentiful (think how many books are devoted exclusively to Boa constrictor ssp., for example). And while most of these books are worth reading once, the majority say little that all the others don't say, too. Garter snakes, however, seldom rate more than a paragraph or two in any snake book, and there are very few books devoted exclusively to garters (I can think of only one, offhand). This book, however, gives garters the attention--and gives the reader the information--that the species deserves. If one is a ratsnake enthusiast, or a python person, or mad about milksnakes, there are plenty of books worth reading, but few that are indispensable. If one is a breeder, researcher, or simply an interested layperson regarding garter snakes, however, this book is one that simply cannot be done without.

Fantasic story on the beginnings of what Garth Brooks became. He never has lost his dream.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the "real" Garth -- the person behind the icon. The book details his hard work and determination as a local singer, and how he never gave up. It's not glitzy (black & white photos) but packed with stories that make you feel you are there, experiencing what he experiences, feeling what he feels. It is an inspiration to all, as is Garth.

This book grabbed my attention and held on from beginning to end every time I read it! This isn't your run-of-the-mill, facts-everybody-already- knows kind of books. Matt O'Meilia does an outstanding job of describing the trials, troubles, and times of a young, struggling Garth Brooks just as he and their former band-mates remember them from their lives back in Eastern Oklahoma. Weather you think you know everything about Mr. Brooks or if you know absolutly nothing about this legend, this book is sure to leave you with a smile and many interesting stories you will not find anywhere else. You may also find yourself with a new sense of hope and determination for your own goals as O'Meilia shows the hopes and dreams of five young men, one in particular, come alive.

Well written chronicle of one of the South's finest soldiers.
Too little has been introduced about the struggle between North and South in the Nations. This book is the best I have read on the subject.
Watie and his gallant band are well represented in their struggle to defend their families and save their homes from ruin during the Yankee invasion.

....one of the worst of which is that the Confederacy was a white, Anglo-Saxon monolith. The truth is that the Confederacy pioneered the idea of giving blacks and women positions of authority [the Matron Law], placed Jews in positions of power, and put General's stars on a Mexican. And, we had the first American Indian General; this wonderful book is his story.

Stand Watie was born in Georgia in 1806, and went west on the Trail of Tears. In Oklahoma, he became a rich, powerful, slave-owning rancher. [Yes, Indians owned slaves; so did Jews, Mexicans, and, surprise, Blacks]. He also gained both friends and enemies; as one of the two rival Principal Chiefs of the Cherokee Nations, he headed the Mixed Blood faction, which some thought got along a little too well with the government. [The other Chief, John Ross, was also a rich slave-owning rancher, living in a mansion, married to a white woman; he had less Indian blood than Watie]. Sort of like the Pure Bloods and the Mud-Bloods in the Harry Potter stories, only this wasn't funny........

When the Civil War came, both sides wanted the Indians of the Five Civilized Tribes in present day Oklahoma; enter another of the few Civil War characters who provide a measure of comic relief, Brigadier General Albert Pike, sent by the Confederacy to recruit the Indians; he did a pretty good job, too, capitalizing on the very real beef that the Indians had with the US. Pike's Civil War career is a minor footnote to a long, productive life. Today, he is best known as the philosopher of Scottish Rite Masonry. Pike resigned in late 1862 [Maybe---another topic], and was replaced by the more conventional, but less colorful, Douglas Cooper. Cooper said that Pike was either disloyal to the Confederacy, or was insane; Masons know which was the case.....

Oklahoma saw action all thru the war; the battles aren't as well known as the eastern ones, but the troops gave just as much, and the dead were just as dead. Stand Watie was a hero of Wilson's Creek, and proved to be an effective leader the whole way. Indeed, this was a theatre of operations where the Confederacy remained viable right to the end. Stand Watie was rewarded with General's stars in 1864, and was the very last Confederate General to stack arms.

This book is a true classic, a well written account of a part of the Civil War that most people don't even know existed.. Many thanks to Mr. Cunningham, and many thanks to the University of Oklahoma Press for making it available.

Excellent overview of Native American Confederates. A little looked at fact of the Civil War. Does justice to all men, women of all color, nationalities whom fought for what they beleived in.