West of Last Chance

West of Last Chance
by Peter Brown and Kent Haruf [917.82 qBro]

This coffee table book is collaboration between Kent Haruf, who known for his eloquent fiction set in the high plains, and Peter Brown who has photographed the plains for 25 years. Brown trained his lens on the small towns and vast landscape of the central United States. He roamed eastern Colorado, western Texas, Kansas, South Dakota and the Nebraska sandhills capturing moments in time. The beauty of photography is that it preserves a slice of life that will never come again. Be it a waitress leaning on the counter in a café or dark gray clouds roiling over the prairie. There will be similar moments to be sure, but none just like these. Brown's photography is enhanced by Kent Haruf's moving prose about life in the high plains. The stories range from pioneer days when a young couple from Ohio dug a dugout in the side of a hill. One day the wife watched in horror as rattlesnakes dropped from the dirt ceiling into her baby's crib. With her heart in her mouth she tiptoed to the crib and carefully took up her son. She left her husband this terse note: "Gone home." And end with modern day stories about the fellowship that is served along with the food at small town church suppers. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Great Plains: America's Lingering Wild by Michael Forsberg, Along the Edge of Daylight by Georg Jourtas, and Distinctly American : the photography of Wright Morris / essays by Alan Trachtenberg and Ralph Lieberman.] -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department

[ official West of Last Chance page on the official Peter Brown web site ]

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