Great Plains Studies, Center for

 

Date of this Version

Fall 2011

Document Type

Article

Citation

Great Plains Quarterly 31:4 (Fall 2011).

Comments

Copyright © 2011 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.

Abstract

FREE LAND was the Cry! For 123 years the Homestead Act provided millions of people the opportunity to pursue the American Dream of land ownership. Moreover, it had a tremendous impact beyond individual people or families, profoundly changing the nation and the world.

Brian Q. Cannon's Reopening the Frontier: Homesteading in the Modern West is one of several recent titles exploring America's epic homesteading story. Within Cannon's book readers will find events tying back to the early years of the homestead movement that have been repeated time and again. While one may believe that modern homesteading between 1946 and 1966 would be distinctly different from those experiences encountered during home-steading's early years, Cannon finds common threads-as well as striking differences. Above all, he declares, "the land has always pandered to Americans' dreams."

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