Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Winter 1999
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly Vol. 19, No. 1, Winter 1999, pp. 61-62.
Abstract
In Beyond the Frontier: Exploring the Indian Country, Stan Hoig has compiled a compendium of explorers who traversed present-day Oklahoma from 12 July 1541 to 15 June 1860. Intended for non-scholarly audiences, the book offers just the plain unvarnished facts-culled from a variety of primary and secondary sources-about these adventurers and their probes.
The introduction establishes the geographic limits of Indian Territory, delineates the period under consideration, and discusses the various jurisdictional disputes over this area. For the reader's convenience the author has provided a brief biographic sketch of each explorer.
According to Hoig, by focusing on the minute details which scholars often ignore, his work offers "a more intimate look at life in the Oklahoma area that preceded white civilization." He further claims that "the least eventful exploration is often interesting in the portrait it presents of life at that time."
True to his intent, Hoig offers no overarching generalizations, no interpretative framework, and no searching analysis ofEuropean and American penetration of Indian Territory. Without such commentary and conclusions, the reader can easily be swamped by a sea of factual information. Because little effort has been made to categorize information, the reader has difficulty understanding the impact, if any, these various expeditions had on Indian and frontier clllture. The account of one exploration melds into the next in a seamless, non-distinctive fashion.
Readers who enjoy history as a chronicle will revel in Beyond the Frontier. Those who believe that a captivating historical narrative requires much more than an assemblage of fact will experience a different reaction.
Comments
Copyright 1999 by the Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln