Seldom Seen: A Journey Into the Great Plains

In May 1995, with nothing but a backpack and a vague sense of disquiet, Patrick Dobson left his home and a steady if deadening job in Kansas City, Missouri. Over the next two and a half months he made his way to Helena, Montana, letting chance encounters guide him to a deeper sense of who he was and where he was going. His chronicle of this journey charts his experiences with the seldom-seen people of the small towns, the far-flung outposts, and the Great Plains that make up "our America." Beginning as a seeker, Dobson becomes a faithful recorder of other people's search for contentment, introducing us to a firefighter with a farm at the end of the world, a fiery Christian conservative, a man sharing a van with a crowd of cats, a former circus carny who's found the secret to living life, and a homeless Native American offering a special and enduring gift. Ridden out of a hostile Kansas town, sniffed by bears, confronted by bison and recalcitrant moose, Dobson cannot help but see how land, sky, weather, and a world of circumstances influence people. Against the majestic sweep of the open plains and endless horizon, his story is one of hope and desperation, richness and simplicity--a portrait of who we are in the heartland of America.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 11/01/2009
ISBN: 9780803216167
Pages: 279
Weight: 1.12lbs
Size: 8.54h x 5.88w x 1.02d

Review Citations: Booklist 09/15/2009 pg. 25
Library Journal 10/01/2009 pg. 93
Kirkus Reviews 10/01/2009