After reading the first chapter of Webb’s text The Great Plains I was beginning to worry about how I was ever going to read all five hundred pages of the book. I stuck with it however and fortunately by the second and third chapter the reading got more interesting and the descriptions more relevant. I think personally that part of the interest of reading The Great Plains is Webb’s obvious racism and bias present throughout the book. It is comical to read his observations and comments about Native people and also his perception or rather lack of acknowledgement of a prairie woman. The book is very descriptive when talking about the land and the cycle of seasons and also the interaction of environment and humans. Webb’s thesis in the book is to focus on the history of the Great Plains and the interaction between environment and humans and how it shaped the life and ways of the people who lived on the plains. Through all the extra information the most important thing to take away after reading the text is how important and vital the environment was in shaping the history of the Great Plains.
One of the most intriguing aspects of the text was the chapter on the division of land between people on the Great Plains. It was fascinating that the eastern people did not understand that out west land needed to be divided into larger tracks of land just to be profitable and that by restricting the amount of land one person (namely a man) could own they were dooming them into failure and did not use the full potential of the land. People are constantly confusing the true identity of the Great Plains and developing their own outlandish notions of how the Great Plains people live. Another intriguing aspect of the text was the chapter on the Spanish and their attempts to colonize the Great Plains and their interactions with the Native people. Webb rights with great bias however the general story is still there. Reading about the trickery and deception that happened to the Spanish was interesting and when they talked about the Indians leading the on the plains to die I couldn’t help but think how grateful they should have been that it wasn’t winter at the time.
Overall this book was a very insightful though somewhat dated text that greatly increased my knowledge and understanding of the early Great Plains. I thought the chapter on the plants of the Great Plains was very interesting. I wish that Webb would have gone into more detail about the bison’s grazing habits and also the interaction between bison and the other wildlife. One topic I would like to continue talking about is the influence of Native Americans on the settlement of the Great Plains and also their interaction with the European settlers. By living in the Great Plains region I am that much more intrigued by the history and culture. I hope through reading this book I am better able to identify the Great Plains and also explain them to others.
posted by Calli Cebulski #
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