Even at its most milk-and-water, it was sensitive to the complex fate of being an American, as to the traumatic process of becoming one. Earl. Smith's. favorite. anapestic. poem. was. James. Whitcomb. Riley's. “The Name of Old Glory.
Then I became poor Titus Oates, with his enormous frostbitten foot. “Well,” said Oates, leaving Scott's tent at 80°o8'S, “I am just going outside, and I may be some time.” Sniff. . . sniff. . . sniff. The neon sign was still far out ...
Here he came across the ruins of a community and isolated homesteads. These homes, he realized, gave clues as to the characters of the people who took the train West in the early 20th century in search of new lives. This is their story.
'Bad Land should be recognized as a blazing classic' – Sunday Telegraph
The stories of countless homesteaders who, in the first decades of this century, took up acres in the dry Plains of Montana and the Dakotas.
Bad Land: An American Romance