Old Jules Country

Recreates the life of a Swiss-born Nebraska homesteader, while reflecting on the character of the people who shaped the American nation

By zealous research, keen observation, and wide-ranging and deeply probing commentary, Mari Sandoz has become one of the most famous and well-respected interpreters of the American West. Old Jules Country is made up of the region thatøSandoz has written about most frequently?the High Plains of the Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska, and Wyoming?the Black Hills, the Bad Lands, the sandhills, and the great rivers: the Missouri, the Platte, and the Yellowstone. Here are selections from the six volumes of her acclaimed Great Plains Series The Beaver Men, Crazy Horse, Cheyenne Autumn, The Buffalo Hunters, The Cattlemen, and Old Jules and from her study of a great people, These Were the Sioux. Also included are two essays, "The Lost Sitting Bull" and "The Homestead in Perspective." A Cheyenne prayer and two sketches unavailable elsewhere?"Snakes" and "Coyotes and Eagles"?complete the collection. This anthology provides a stimulating sampling for readers not yet acquainted with Sandoz's work. For her extensive following, it offers the opportunity for a satisfying reappraisal of her overall achievement.

Old Jules' Mari Sandoz' widely acclaimed biography of her pioneering father, was published in 1935. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of that event, Old jules Country offers a generous sampling from Miss Sandoz' nonfiction writing. By zealous research, by keen observation and by wide-ranging and deep-probing commentary, all recorded in flowing prose, Mari Sandoz has hewn out for herself a unique niche as an inspired interpreter of the American \Vest. Here are selections from the six volumes of her extraordinary Great Plains Series - 'The Beaver Men', 'Crazy Horse', 'Cheyenne Autumn', 'The Buffalo Hunters', 'The Cattlemen' and 'Old Jules' - and from her trenchant study of a great people, 'These Were the Sioux'. The volume also includes two long essay-articles, 'The Lost Sitting Bull' and 'The Homestead in Perspective', Two hitherto unpublished pieces, 'Snakes' and 'Coyotes and Eagles', and the-poignant 'Evening Song' - a prayer chanted by an imprisoned Cheyenne Chief - round out a striking table of contents. "Old Jules Country," the land of the title, is made up of the region of which the author has written so much-the High Plains of the Dakotas, Nebraska, Wyoming and eastern Montana-the Black Hills, the Badlands, the sandhills of Nebraska, the North Platte, the Niobrara, the Little Missouri and the Yellowstone. This collection provides a stimulating introduction for readers not yet acquainted with her work. For her extensive following, it offers some shorter difficult-to-find and previously unpublished shorter pieces and the opportunity for a satisfying reappraisal of her over-all achievement.