Take Sod Busting Authored By David B. Danbom Exhibited In Physical Book

father was a product of the great plains and we are related to the author it was a revelation to read of what had gone before to produce what became his world that of western Nebraska you will enjoy this book Prairie busting is central to the lore of westward expansion but how was it actually accomplished with little than animal

and human power In Sod Busting David B Danbom tells the story of Great Plains settlement in a way it has seldom been told before Stretching beyond the sweeping accounts typical of standard textbooks Danbom challenges students to think about the many practicalities of surviving on the Great Plains in the late nineteenth century by providing a detailed account of how settlers acuired land and made homes farms and communities He examines the physical and climatic obstacles of the plainsperhaps Americas most inhospitable frontierand shows how settlers sheltered themselves gained access to fuel and water and broke the land for agriculture Treating the Great Plains as a post industrial frontier Danbom delves into the economic motivations of settlers as well as the physically and economically difficult process of farm making He explains how settlers got the capital they needed to succeed and how they used the labor of the entire family to survive until farms returned profits He examines closely the business decisions that determined the success or failure of these farmers in a boom and bust economy details the creation of churches schools and service centers that enriched the social and material lives of the settlers and shows how the support of government railroads and other businesses contributed to the success of plains settlementBased on contemporary accounts settlers reminiscences and the work of other historians Sod Busting dives deeply into the practical realities of how things worked to make vivid one of the uintessentially American experiences breaking new land.