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I thought that once you got past the introduction The Great Plains was a interesting book. From Webb's thoughts on the common physical characteristics of the land, to the Indians and then to the White man's influence on what the plains is today.

Webb describes the plains as mostly flat, treeless and semi arid. This does a good job of describing most of the plains. Although there are exceptions to these general guidelines (The Black Hills, Prairie Pothole region, etc) I think that it still works as a general rule.

In the book Webb talks about how impressed he is with some of the aspects of the Indians. He talks mostly about how horses have shaped their way of life. Almost to the point that it seems that without their horses they would be lost. He is especially impressed with their advancements involving hunting, their proficiency with the short bow and their use of hand signals. But despite all of his admiration for certain aspects of their culture he still describes them as "Noble Savages". I think that this close mindedness is easily explained by the time period. While Webb was writing this book he was less than a decade past women voting rights and three decades away from the heart of the civil rights movement.

Almost all of the White man's technological introductions were influential in turning the plains into the agricultural based society of today. Advancements such as the windmill, barbed wire fences, and horses helped in this transition. But the single most important advancement in agriculture was the introduction of the railroads to America. The railroads along with the advancements in irrigation allowed the agriculture to shift from sustenance agriculture to the commercial agriculture of today.