Garden in the Grasslands: Boomer Literature of the Central Great Plains

ISBN: 9780803207530

¶¨¼Û: 69.00

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The American people had always expected much of their frontiers
These outlying regionswhether located in the Connecticut River valley
or in the blue grass hillS of Kentuckyserved as a constant pull upon
the American imaginationTheir challenges and promises suppied a
part of the generative energy that propelled the settlers westwardIt
was little wonder that a grateful people invested their frontiers with hazy
images of the garden regaineddescribing them in language reserved
for Edenic landscapes onlyThe people who lived within them were
thought to enjoy the favors only an Eden could supply
The vast material wealth the frontier Ofieredthe fertile soil and
benign and productive climateafrorded predictable and conventional
rewardsthere a man could make a decent 1ivingSimilarlyas the
number of settlers increasednew resources and markets would be
made available to the more developed regions farther eastA nation
constantly growingit was thoughtwas a nation constantly prospering
and tiffs growththis westeringwas central to the thinking of those
who envisioned a powerful and self-sufficient nationBut economic
prosperity was not the only benefit Americans could expect to receive
from their frontiersThere were political and spiritual rewards as well
A frontierby definitionwould be settled by agriculturalistsand most
Americans shared JefiersonS belief that these were the chosen of GodS
peopleThe American agriculturistthe yeomanhad been selected as
the standard-bearer of American cultureSimple in his tastesfrugal
jn habitshe was the ideal republicanand upon him rested much of this
nationS cultural and political identityA constant supply of frontiers
must be provided for his occupation1
1The literature of the garden and the yeoman is vast and extensive The seminal
work is Henry Nash SmithVirgin LandThe American West as Symbol and My th
(New YorkVintage Books1962)but see also Leo MarxThe Machine in the
Garden(New YorkOxford University Press1964)Charles SanfordThe Quest
J