Oklahoma Books

This is probably the best, and certainly the most accurate, book ever written about the oil patch. It is set early in the 20th century during the oil boom in the Oklahoma "channel sands." Yet, this story could just as easily been set just about anywhere oil fever hit- and the Rockefellers got there claws into it.

Firstly, this is a novel about the indomitable will of one woman who refuses to keep anyone and anything from keeping her from bringing in her wildcat well: not a nere-do-well father, not romance, not sexist oil men and bankers, not Rockfeller thugs.

Yet, it is the secondary theme of what the oil patch was really like that steals the show. The technical details are all correct, as are the labor conditions and political climate (Rockefeller WAS the government.) Indeed the shere ruthlessness of the times is perfectly captured- you get one chance to do "business" with Standard Oil, after that your rights, and your life, weren't worth a plug nickel.

The author, also wrote the excellent screenplay for the movie that starred George C. Scott and Jack Palance. Strangely that film is impossible to find these days. In fact, this excellent book didn't even go to paperback. It was written around the time of the great "oil crisis" of 1973. It is almost like someone doesn't want the true story of the American oil industry brought to light....

This book gives you a game by game account, with stats, of every game the Oklahoma Sooners played from 1970 all the way through 1979!! A MUST have book for the true Sooner fan!
I GUARANTEE YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK!!! I DO!!
By the way when amazon asked me too rate this book in either 1 to five stars..I LIED!!! THIS BOOK IS 10 STARS!!

This really is a great book, it really goes farther than many depression era historical books to put you into the situations faced by those living "below the standard".

If you want to feel the depression Grapes of Wrath style first hand, I know of no better book

This is a very well written book. Keith gives great detail to each game from 1895 until 1920 and all the hardships of life in those times for the University's players and others. My all-time favorite football book!

If you are an Oklahoma football fan, this book is a must for you Harod Keith tells the story as if you are right there during the first 25 years of Oklahoma football. Harold was the Oklahoma sports publicist during the Bud Wilkinson football era, the 1950s, etc. Lots of local and period color in the story telling. I used it often during the time I was a sports editor in Oklahoma and also as an Oklahoma historian. I have had a copy of this book I have kept for decades and got another one through Amazon. - Mort Scott, writer

"Since graduating from Brooklyn College in 1936, Eli Jaffe has written four novels, a score of short stories, one-act and full length plays,but he considers Oklahoma Odyssey his major work. This memoir relates his experience in Dust Bowl/Depression Oklahoma (1938-1941) as a volunteer for the Workers Allicance, a group of unemployed oil field workers and dispossessed farm folk."

Superbly factual material on Oklahoma oil from 1880s to 1940s. Lots of early period data and lots of context for that data presented in a "just the facts" style -- locations, names, dates, technologies, economics & business drivers, disasters, prices, Indian compensation rates for oil leases, ecological mayhem, and boomtown sociology (complete with Prohibition, gangsters, tent revivals, gun-toting Methodist ministers, and the kidnapping of a rich oilman for ransom by Machine Gun Kelly). The Oklahoma oil boom & bust couldn't have a better documentarian than Franks. Many worthwhile photographs, too, but most are of poor quality and some primitive hand retouching reduces their value.

Oklahoma Pioneer Review
011707

Being a Wesley Hall fan I could not pass this one. A tale of proud
accomplishments in spite of strife, this is a story of doing it the hard way!
Most new immigrants going west found that to be their path in the early days
of the Oklahoma territory. This book is a necessary link in the continuing
biogrpahical odyssey of Wesley E Hall.

I am using this book as a source of information for some railroad travel guides I am putting together, and it is very helpful, in that it is not merely a "list of place names," like so many other similar books I have seen are. This book actually has historical information and useful material which I can incorporate into my guides, which will make train travel passing through the places listed in the book much more enjoyable and interesting. It is an excellent resource!!!

A true insider's view of the rescue and recovery efforts in Oklahoma City back in 1995. I knew a few people from the Fairfax County (Virginia) Urban Search & Rescue team that was deployed to assist this effort, but none of them could provide the kind of detailed account presented here. In many ways the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building was a dress rehearsal for the even more devastating attacks that would occure less than seven years later.

The strength of the American people is our ability to set aside our differences and band together in times of grief and danger. For all our diagreements, we genuinely care for each other and will go to amazing lengths to help complete strangers. This trait is noted again and again in this book, which serves more as a reminder of the depth of compassion in this country than of the evil of the attack itself.

As a volunteer fire/rescue provider I empathized with Chief Hanson. I could not put the book down except when I wept so hard I could not continue. The rescuers were certainly on my mind the entire time of the rescue efforts and I prayed for each and every one of them, knowing what they were to encounter. There were both career and volunteer working shoulder to shoulder. After reading the book I had a profound respect and admiration for Chief Hanson. The photos of his daughter and how he spoke of his family made me realize that he was going to be OK. His experience is one that no professional {firefighter/rescuer) wants to encounter, but we must be ready with the appropriate training and skills. I wanted to write to Chief Hanson but never did for one reason or another. The book is worth reading and I'm sorry it is out of print. A must read for all in the emergency services. If the eyes don't glisten there's something wrong... I was proud of the team that went from my home state of Maryland. The Montgomery County Search and Rescue Team out of Siver Spring gave an overview of their experience at the annual convention of the Maryland State Firemen's Assn. in 1995 - Indeed a story through pictures... I continue to pray for all those involved to this day. I worry that it could happen again, close by. Therefore, I pray we'll be as prepared as the Oklahome Fire Department. I am a great beleiver that we are placed in situations by a higher power, so we can do the most good. I somehow beleive that God placed Chief Hanson in the appropriate position certainly because a strong leader was needed. Is there an update on the men and women of the Oklahoma City Fire Department? It would be interesting to see how many maintained their careers within the emergency services. Thanks for allowing me this opportunity. Patricia Bowser, FO I, Garrett County, Md.