Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
1993
Abstract
This is a splendid book, ambitiously and selfconsciously American, at once contemporary and a throwback to the American Renaissance, calling up Thoreau's travels in Concord and inquiries into nature, as well as hints of Melville's metaphysical grapplings. Whereas in his first book, Blue Highways, William Least Heat-Moon moved up across American landscapes, here in Prairy Erth he stays put: in Chase County, Kansas, close to the center of America, he sinks down his probes, immerses himself in reports and archives, and holds discourse with all manner of persons, animals, plants, and things.
Comments
Published in Great Plains Quarterly 13:2 (Spring 1993). Copyright © 1993 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.