Study Guide for The Great Plains

The first text for discussion in "The Great Plains from Texas to Saskatchewan" is The Great Plains, by Walter P. Webb. I first read this book as a junior at Bethany College, in Kansas. It was in a course of readings laid out for me by my advisor, Gerry Shannon, who was prepping me for graduate school. I missed the point of the book, and so Gerry sent me home to re-write my report on it. I've always been grateful to him for that.

HIST 431: The Webb Thesis

HIST 382: Environmental Determinism

HIST 103: The Turner Theses

To see that my own students at NDSU get the point of the book, which I use as a text in HIST 431, "The North American Plains," I've made up a web page driving home its central thesis: adaptation to environment. Webb's thesis was, at heart, one of environmental determinism, an intellectual phenomenon I also have treated in a page for my course on Canada. Webb’s work also was grounded in that of Frederick Jackson Turner, whose theses I have outlined in a page for my American history students.

Webb's Great Plains has been scored and scarred now by several generations of critics—but it has never been out of print. The American scholarly tradition for study of the Great Plains as region begins, and continually touches bases with, Webb's work. That's why it's our first text for study in the seminar. This is no hardship for us readers, for Webb prided himself on his writing. The framework of the book may be expository, but its author remains a master story-teller.

Texts of Great Plains
Edition	Description
Boston: Ginn & Co., 1931	The original text.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1981	Paperback Bison Book. Facsimile of the original 1931 edition. This text will be our standard reference for the seminar.

Exploring The Great Plains

Our first-day discussion of the work, our initial exploration, will be based on the commonplace entries, marginalia, and curiosities of all of us, with designated discussion leaders facilitating the flow. Here are some comments and questions I might put into the mix.

· Why the heck does Webb spend so much time early in the book talking about animals?

· What type of writing is this book, exactly?

· Is Webb a provincial writer, a sectional writer, or a regional writer?

· What is the image of Plains Indians rendered by Webb? How deep is it? How inclusive is it?

· Who are Webb's heroes? What sort of people get him wound up?

· There are some holes in The Great Plains that you could throw a cat through. What are the ones—the omissions in coverage, the limitations in perspective—that you notice?

Enlightening The Great Plains: (Suggested) Reports
Subject		Sources
Some authors, of fiction or nonfiction, are overtly autobiographical, while others are more sneaky. Historians like to say they are dispassionate and objective. How much of the story of Great Plains is the story of Walter Webb?		Furman, Walter Prescott Webb Tobin, Making of a History
Webb was an idea man who prided himself most for his two idea books--Great Plains and Great Frontier. What was the method of the idea man for doing History? How did these great ideas, and great books, come to be?		Furman, Walter Prescott Webb, Chapter 7 Webb, "The Historical Seminar" Webb, "History as High Adventure"
Webb claimed that The Great Plains was not inspired by the work of Frederick Jackson Turner, but Webb was clearly a Turnerian. How does Webb relate to Turner? How does he go beyond Turner?		The Turner Theses Tobin, Making of a History Bogue, Frederick Jackson Turner Webb, The Great Frontier Turner, The Frontier in American History
Webb had cronies. At the university of Texas he worked and socialized with certain kindred spirits, and they influenced one another. What was the character of this working environment, so influential on regional scholarship?		Owens, Three Friends Dugger, Three Men in Texas Furman, Walter Prescott Webb
Someone ought to deal with the harshest of all of Webb's critics--Fred Shannon (which could lead us into other criticisms of Webb that we, in our times, might pose).		Shannon, An Appraisal
Regionalism was a growing phenomenon at the time Webb published Great Plains. Who were the regionalists, and what were they trying to do? What was the Great Plains conception of regionalism? What was the regional conception of your own part of the country?		Dorman, Revolt of the Provinces Luebke, "Regionalism and the Great Plains" Isern, "Nowhere Spelled Backwards"
Extending The Great Plains: (Suggested) Reports
Subject		Sources
Take one of the adaptations to the Great Plains that Webb treated, and amplify--updating by subsequent work, tracing later developments.	Windmills	Barbour, Homemade Windmills T. Lindsey Baker, Field Guide to American Windmills
	Barbed wire	Wire That Fenced the West Web search on barbed wire (lots of material on collecting)
	Sod houses	Dick, Sod-House Frontier Architectural Survey of Bowman County
Consider an adaptation to the Great Plains environment not treated by Webb.	Cattle guards	Hoy, Cattle Guard
	Wheat harvesting	Isern, Custom Combining Isern, Bull Threshers and Bindlestiffs
Webb says little of women on the plains. Later historians have tried to right this wrong. What was the female experience on the plains?		Riley, Female Frontier Nelson, After the West Was Won Fink, Agrarian Women
Webb’s interpretation hits hard because it is simple. Recent historians deal with environment in more complex ways. Is Webb now passé?		West, The Contested Plains Flores, The Natural West
Webb knew nothing of the Canadian prairies. What happens when you test his thesis in the north?		Sharp, Whoop-Up Country Shepard and Isern, eds., "An Interview with Paul Sharp"
Webb was parochial in many ways. What happens if you try to extend his ideas to other parts of the world?		Webb, The Great Frontier Ashcroft et al, The Empire Writes Back Said, Culture and Imperialism Isern, "Nowhere Spelled Backwards"
The rural sociologist Carl Kraenzel was the greatest extender of Webb’s ideas. What was Kraenzel’s vision for regional life?		Kraenzel, Great Plains in Transition
Is there a work of History or other scholarship that defines your region in the way Webb defines the Great Plains—a comparable work? Let's hear about it!		On your own here!
Webb has a clear thesis as to where the range cattle industry came from. Others are not so sure. Should we rethink what Webb has to say about this?		Dale, Range Cattle Industry Osgood, Day of the Cattleman Jordan, Trails to Texas Breen, Canadian Ranching Frontier

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