Stolen Horses, by Dan O’Brien, is an old-fashioned Western novel in some ways. The fictional setting – McDermot, Nebraska – is a place where cowboys still live on the ranch homesteads settled by great-great-grandparents, where everyone knows the local history, where many people are resistant to change. But in other ways, it’s a modern story, one that touches on healthcare inequity, corruption, the growing gulf between the rich and poor, and what happens when change finally does come to a place as remote and untouched as McDermot. NPR’s Alan Cheuse reviewed Stolen Horses on All Things Considered last night. A … Continue reading Stolen Horses reviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered

NPR listeners and UNP fans, be sure to tune in to Fresh Air this evening to hear book critic Maureen Corrigan’s rave review of Gabrielle Burton’s memoir/biography, Searching for Tamsen Donner, published last year by the University of Nebraska Press. In the review, which also highlights Burton’s novel about Donner Party matriarch Tamsen Donner, titled Impatient with Desire, Corrigan calls Searching for Tamsen Donner “extraordinary” and a “must read.” Pretty high praise from one of this blogger's favorite radio programs.  A short excerpt from the review follows: Burton writes about a shoestring-budget trip she took in 1977, along with her … Continue reading Searching for Tamsen Donner reviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air