Thomas Fox Averill

What Kansas Means to Me (P) (Revised) Thomas Fox Averill New edition

Jacket Description/Back: A reflective journey into Kansas not only as a place but also as a state of mind. The seventeen writers' views span from 1910 to the present. Table of Contents: List of illustrations Preface Introduction: Afflicted by Affection, "Thomas Fox Averill" 1. Kansas (1910), "Carl L. Becker" 2. Kansas: A Puritan Survival (1922), "William Allen White" 3. Kansas, the Essence of Typical America (1926), "W. G. Clugston" 4. Sky-Mountain (1927), "May Williams Ward" 5. Bleeding Kansans (1939), "Karl A. Menninger" 6. The Cottonwood and the Prairie (1945), "Zula Bennington Greene" 7. Address to Kansans (1946), "Kenneth Wiggins Porter" 8. The Strength of Kansas (1949), "Milton S. Eisenhower" 9. Kansas and the Stream of American Destiny (1954), "Allan Nevins" 10. One Home (1960), "William Stafford" 11. A Level Land (1968), "William Inge" 12. Portrait of a Changing Kansas (excerpt) (1976), "Kenneth S. Davis" 13. Breathing Kansas (1979), "Artful Goodtimes" 14. Straight Roads (1982), "Peg Wherry" 15. Not in Kansas Anymore (1989), "Robert Day" 16. Touching the Sky (1989), "Denise Low" Acknowledgments IndexPublisher Marketing: "To understand why people say 'Dear old Kansas!" is to understand that Kansas is no mere geographical expression, but a 'state of mind, ' a religion, and a philosophy in one," writes historian Carl Becker in the classic 1910 essay that leads off this volume. Like Becker, the twelve other essayists and four poets try to map the spiritual topography of Kansas and explain why this particular patch of prairie is so dear. They share the conviction that Kansas represents something powerful, something significant, something noteworthy. The seventeen selections are put into perspective by Thomas Fox Averill's headnotes and introductory essay, which makes its own contribution to our understanding of Kansas. The essays and poems (all previously published except for the last essay) are arranged chronologically, from the earliest (1910) to the most recent (1990). Illustrated with woodcuts from the Prairie Print-makers.

Contributor Bio:  Averill, Thomas Fox Thomas Fox Averill is writer-in-residence and a professor of English at Washburn University of Topeka. He is the author of the novels "Secrets of the Tsil Cafe" and "The Slow Air of Ewan MacPherson."