Prairie City by Angie Debo

Prairie City by Angie Debo ISBN-13: 9780806130941 Paperback: 272 pages Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press Released: Sept. 15, 1998

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Prairie City is the social history of a representative midwestern town - a composite of several Oklahoma small towns. Beginning with the "one flashing moment" of the 1889 land run, which opened the "Oklahoma Lands" for white settlement, Angie Debo depicts the struggles of the settlers on the vast prairie to build a community despite seasons of drought, prairie fire, and destitution. Solidly based on historical research, Prairie City chronicles the arrival of the railroad, the growth of political parties and educational institutions, KKK uprisings, the oil boom, the Depression and the New Deal, and the effects of two world wars on small-town America.


My Review:
Prairie City describes what life was like in the frontier Oklahoma towns. It's a composite of several Oklahoma small towns, and most of the characters are fictional. It doesn't read like a novel, but we do follow the changing fortunes of several families as part of how the history of the town is told. It started with the 1889 land run and ended in 1943 (when the book was originally written). I covered economic developments (claiming the land, the train, the oil boom, etc.) and social and political movements (church, school, & political party growth, KKK, the New Deal, etc.) and things like how the locals reacted to the world wars. It was an interesting read.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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