{"id":32,"date":"2020-09-19T21:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-19T21:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/?p=32"},"modified":"2020-10-26T18:16:24","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T18:16:24","slug":"greatplains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/greatplains\/","title":{"rendered":"Series Showcases Great Plains Culture, History, Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Great Plains is sometimes described by what it lacks: oceans, mountains, skyscrapers, big-city noises and world-class museums. Richard Edwards, director emeritus of Nebraska\u2019s Center for Great Plains Studies, seeks to showcase the region\u2019s abundance of quiet beauty and significant culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He developed \u201cDiscover the Great Plains,\u201d a series of short paperback books written for a general audience, to highlight different aspects of the region, which stretches from the Dakotas to the Texas Panhandle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, seven books introduce readers to American Indians, bison, weather, politics, literature, geology and birds. Four more books are in the works. The series, which began in 2016, is a collaboration with the University of Nebraska Press. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven people who live in the region don\u2019t necessarily know much about it,\u201d said Edwards, the series editor. \u201cWe see this series as a way to inform ourselves and the reading public about the many riches of the Great Plains.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By encouraging people to explore the Plains, the series promotes greater appreciation of the region\u2019s culture, history and natural environment, a key mission of the Center for Great Plains Studies, which was established in 1976.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Richard Edwards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Donna Shear, director of UNP, said the series has been popular and is a good fi t for the Bison Books imprint, which shares the history and literature of the American West and Great Plains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The books\u2019 themes appeal to audiences beyond the region. \u201cGreat Plains Birds,\u201d for example, others a meditation on birds popular with birders. \u201cGreat Plains Politics\u201d portrays national political figures, such as Wilma Mankiller and Robert Dole, by highlighting their backgrounds as community collaborators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accessibility is a key ingredient. Edwards enlists authors both deeply knowledgeable about the topic and able to write in a personal style. For example, in \u201cGreat Plains Weather,\u201d Kenneth Dewey, emeritus professor of climatology, explains not only the area\u2019s extreme weather but also how his boyhood interest in it developed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a personal element to these books that allows the reader to get carried along with the enthusiasm of the author,\u201d Edwards said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Great Plains is sometimes described by what it lacks: oceans, mountains, skyscrapers, big-city noises and world-class museums. Richard Edwards, director emeritus of Nebraska\u2019s Center for Great Plains Studies, seeks to showcase the region\u2019s abundance of quiet beauty and significant culture. He developed \u201cDiscover the Great Plains,\u201d a series of short paperback books written for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[65,67,70,6,72,69,66,68],"class_list":["post-32","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-center-for-great-plains-studies","tag-discover-the-great-plains","tag-donna-shear","tag-education-and-outreach","tag-great-plains-book-series","tag-history","tag-richard-edwards","tag-university-of-nebraska-press"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32\/revisions\/299"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}