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Summary: "Where Surprises Can Live and Grow"
Review: (from the Aug. 2004 issue of NCB News of Nebraska Center for the Book http://www.unl.edu/NCB/)In the first sentence of the acknowledgements page, John Price states: "This is a memoir." But what follows in NOT JUST ANY LAND is not simple autobiography; it is more a combination of scholarly research, self-searching, and the time-honored method of using others' words to clarify his own thoughts about the region formerly known as prairie, what we call the Great Plains. This "memoir" is grassland exploration and ecology literature search at its best: Price cites over 65 authors in his bibliography. Price traveled to South Dakota, Kansas and Iowa to discover what remained of the prairie, and in the process interviewed four writers whose books had spoken to him of the region. These writers - their varied views, stories and struggles - are the subjects of the four main chapters of the book: "Reaching Yarak: The Peregrinations of Dan O'Brien," "Not Just Any Land: Linda Hasselstrom at Home," "Native Dreams: William Least-Heat Moon and Chase County, Kansas," and "A Healing Home: Mary Swander's Recovery Among the Iowa Amish." Price's insightful questions and sense of humor make the book's subject highly accessible and memorable. Great Plains enthusiasts, as well as those wanting to understand this often-overlooked region ("...where surprises can live and grow"), will delight in his extensive use of quotations from well-known writers such as Wendell Berry, Gretel Ehrlich, Wes Jackson, William Kittredge, Wallace Stegner and Terry Tempest Williams, to name just a few. Woven through the narrative in often lyrical passages is Price's own exploration of place, community, family history and an understanding of "...what it is that the land demands of us in our daily lives: the nature of responsibility." Price, who grew up in north central Iowa, has written an important book about region that will be studied, discussed and enjoyed for years to come. He is an Associate Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
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