Book Review: Nebraska and the CCC: Young Men at Their Best by Suzanne Williams

Nebraska and the CCC: Young Men at Their Best

by Suzanne Williams (978.2 Wil)

 

I helped a young man recently who was looking for information about the Prisoner of War Camps in Nebraska during the Second World War. I ran across this book (which has a section on Prisoner of War camps) and became so intrigued that I checked it out and read it. I have visited many State Parks across the country which have buildings that were built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and I realized that I knew little about the camps in my own state. This book is an excellent resource for anyone with an interest in the CCC, Nebraska history, World War II, or The Great Depression. Never has a government program done so much to help its citizens during the worst of times than when Roosevelt started the CCC making an impact on thousands of families who were starving to death during the Depression. I was moved by the stories and first-hand accounts of Nebraskans who were helped by this program and remained loyal to its memory over 50 years later. The photos and historical information are incredible and help to re-create the situations that these men faced as they helped to build dams, planted millions of trees and helped farmers wherever they could. I highly recommend this book.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Fighting for the Forest: How FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps Helped Save America by P. O’Connell-Pearson, or Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America by Douglas Brinkley.)

 

( Article about Nebraska and the Civilian Conservation Corps from History Nebraska )

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Services

 

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Book Review: Together We Will Go by J. Michael Straczynski

Together We Will Go

by J. Michael Straczynski (Straczynski)

 

I’ve been a fan of the writing of J. Michael Straczynski for many years. He is perhaps best known as a writer for both television and the comic book industry. Personally, I loved the series Babylon 5, which he created and executive produced, and for which he wrote the majority of the episodes over a 5-season run of 110+ episodes and TV-movies.

 

Together We Will Go is Straczynski’s first original novel in over twenty years (his first 3 were either horror or mystery novels, published between 1988 and 2000). This is general fiction, and while I did enjoy it very much, it is not going to be for everyone.

 

To be blunt, Together We Will Go is about suicide. A failed writer hatches a plan to create an interactive narrative work, using the life stories of a group of suicidal strangers. He buys a bus in Miami, has it rigged up with technology to be a mobile WiFi hotspot, equipped with equipment to record and store tons of data, then sends out a message to online forums and bulletin boards — this bus is going to travel across the country, picking up anyone who is serious about killing themselves, and at the end of the journey, the bus and all its passengers will drive off a cliff in San Francisco, killing them all. In order to join the group of travelers, you have to sign a release, and then you have to live-journal your experiences, to leave a record of your life behind.

 

This novel is epistolary in nature — it is told entirely in journal fragments, from the dozen or more people who join the trip — blog entries, voice messages, emails, all non-traditional storytelling elements.

 

There is a lot of pain in this novel — we get to see up-close-and-personal the kinds of struggles that make a variety of people suicidal. Anyone with serious depression issues will probably be triggered by elements of this story. But all the characters are fascinating and well-developed.

 

The cross-country journey reveals a lot of hidden truths, and deceptions. For those of us living her in Nebraska, you may enjoy the fact that there are scenes set at Omaha’s Lauritzen Gardens, and in Lexington, that all prove pivotal to the plot of novel.

 

Like I said, it’s not going to be for everyone, but personally, I found it to be riveting reading.

 

( publisher’s official Together We Will Go web page) | ( official J. Michael Straczynski Twitter feed )

 

See Scott C.’s review of J. Michael Straczynski’s TV series Babylon 5, in the June 2005 Staff Recommendations on the libraries' BookGuide resource pages!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: The Least Interesting Place by Matt Steinhausen

The Least Interesting Place

by Matt Steinhausen (978.2 Ste)

 

What a hoot! And gorgeous, to boot — speaking of which, boots on fenceposts have their own 2-page spread. This is a book which I wish I had written. Nebraska farmer and amateur historian and photographer Steinhausen has put together a satirically loving tribute to Nebraska, ranked 50th of 50 in the states which people want to visit… The skill, knowledge, affection, and eye for the prairie aesthetic he shows in this deservedly large-format photo book are impressive. Aside from all the tongue-in-cheekiness, there are many tidbits of historical and geographical information included. As a native of Nebraska myself, I thoroughly enjoyed it and think it could be a great marketing tool. Not only is Steinhausen 6th-generation Nebraskan but he lives ‘right here’ in Lancaster County, in which the capital city, Lincoln, is located!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Nebraska: An Illustrated History by Frederick C. Luebke, Along the Edge of Daylight: Photographic Travels from Nebraska and the Great Plains by Georg Joutras, Nebraska Impressions by Steve Mulligan, Abandoned Eastern Nebraska: Rural Wandering by Nicole Renaud, Abandoned Nebraska: Echos of Our Past by Trish Eklund or Nebraska: 150 Years Told through 93 Counties by David L. Hendee.]

[ official The Least Interesting Place Facebook page ] | [ Nebraska Photography page on the official Matt Steinhausen web site ]

 

Recommended by Becky W.C.
Walt Branch Library

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Abandoned Eastern Nebraska: Rural Wandering by Nicole Renaud

Abandoned Eastern Nebraska: Rural Wandering
by Nicole Renaud (978.2 Ren)

I saw this book when it first arrived at the library and thought it looked very interesting. The cover shows an old Continental automobile surrounded by tall grass and trees. Flipping through the book, I saw pictures of places I recognized from Eastern Nebraska, but also from locations farther West. The title is misleading. The book is a collection of photographs of abandoned homesteads, churches, schools and businesses throughout Nebraska, as far away as Kimball in the Panhandle. The photography and descriptions of the places are fun to look through, but don’t expect scholarly research in the descriptions. The book serves as a collection of the author’s favorite abandoned buildings in Nebraska and her musings as to how they came to be in the state of disrepair they are in. I would have liked more research throughout the book and a map of sites represented. The book also needed more editing, but was otherwise a fun read.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Across a Wide Horizon: Discovering the Uncommon Beauty of Nebraska’s Plains, by Jorn C. Olsen, Distinctly American: The Photography of Wright Morris, by Wright Morris.]

[ publisher’s official Abandoned Eastern Nebraska web page ]

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Wyuka Cemetery: A Driving and Walking Tour by Ed Zimmer

Wyuka Cemetery: A Driving and Walking Tour
by Ed Zimmer (978.229 Zim)

This handy little booklet was produced by Lincoln’s de facto city historian, Ed Zimmer (of the Planning Department), in 2009, as a guide to some of the more unusual, distinctive and historically noteworthy features inside Lincoln’s Wyuka Cemetery (located between “O” St. and Vine St., from approximately 36th St. to 42nd St.

As Zimmer says in his introduction, “Wyuka Cemetery was established by an act of the Nebraska Legislature in 1869, to provide a ‘Lincoln State Cemetery’ for the new state’s capital city, founded just two years before.” The cemetery has been expanded over the years, and this driving and walking tour booklet gives historical nuggets of information for more than 52 different “marked” stops within the grounds. You’ll learn about some of the interesting buildings and/or structures, including Rudge Memorial Chapel, mausoleums and receiving vaults, memorials to firefighters and 9/11, the funeral home, chapel and office, and the stables (now home to live Shakespearean performances). But the majority of this guide is information about significant gravestones and monuments scattered around the 140 acres of Wyuka’s grounds.

As we all employ “socially distancing” measures (this review is appearing during the COVID-19 pandemic), and you’re looking for something interesting to do that doesn’t involve gathering in large groups, perhaps you’ll consider checking out a copy of this handy guidebook and going on a drive or stroll through Wyuka’s tree-shaded landscaping, exploring some of Lincoln and Nebraska’s history through the marble and granite markers. You’ll find everyone from mass murderer Charles Starkweather (and some of his victims), to singer and movie star Gordon Macrae to former Governors like J.J. Exon. You can even do as visitors did over a hundred years ago — Wyuka followed the design ethics of other park-like cemeteries in the United States, encouraging families to bring picnic lunches and spend an afternoon surrounded by history. And if you’d rather not check out a library copy of this guidebook, it’s available as a free download in PDF format — load it onto your smartphone or tablet for convenience! Perfect if you're looking for a way to commemorate 2020's Memorial Day this coming Monday!

There’s a master map of the entire Wyuka layout at the back of the book, including an index to the location of 21 additional significant historical figures who are buried in Wyuka. Which, added to the 52 tour stops, gives you 73 identified landmarks to look for. Wyuka’s website has a grave locator, so if you’re searching for the location of any additional graves in the cemetery, and you have a name to search for, you may have even more luck.

[ official Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln web site ] | [ official PDF reproduction of this booklet web site ]

See Scott C’s review of Hallowed Grounds: America’s Overseas Military Cemeteries on DVD, on BookGuide in April 2018
See Scott C’s review of A Cemetery Special on DVD, on BookGuide in April 2018

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Heart-Land: Growing Up in the Middle of Everything by Douglas Keister

Heart-Land: Growing Up in the Middle of Everything
by Douglas Keister (Biography Keister)

The title tells it all. Douglas Keister reminisces about growing up as the middle child, in the middle of the 20th century, in Lincoln, Nebraska – the middle of the US.

He does so with a humor that’s both sweet and laugh-out-loud:

July 4th – “My Fountain with Report was always a crowd-pleaser. Take a generic fountain, bore a small hole in the bottom, insert cherry bomb, secure with tape, light fountain. Just as the fountain was fizzling out, the last glowing embers would ignite the cherry bomb’s fuse, then a few seconds later there would be a spectacular explosion. The actual trajectory of the fireball was somewhat unpredictable which gave it a high rating on Doug’s Danger Scale.”

Weather – “Nebraskan’s are obsessed with weather. The prime reason is that most Nebraskans are rooted in an agrarian lifestyle – weather means dollars gained or lost. The second reason is entertainment value. Unlike states like California where there are endless days of bucolic sameness, Nebraska has real weather, often two or three seasons in the same day.”

He also touches upon a defining moment bonding most Lincolnites:

“By December (1957) the first seeds of my loss of innocence were sown. In safe, clean, white-bread Lincoln, Nebraska, a troubled young man and his 14-year-old girlfriend would do some terrible things – horrible, unthinkable things…By January 29th Lincoln, Nebraska was in lockdown. The governor called in the National Guard; Jeeps with mounted machine guns patrolled the streets and armed parents rushed to schools to drive their children home.”

Much of what he writes about are the same experiences we’ve all had in our youth. It feels as if we’re chatting with him over coffee and sharing stories. You’ll read portions of the book aloud to whomever is sitting next to you. This is a quiet, enjoyable, quick read that will stay with you.

[ official Heart-Land page on the official Douglas Keister web site ]

See also: Kim J’s review of Heart-Land from January 2015

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!