Prairie City: The Story of an American Community

by Angie Debo

Describes the growth of an Oklahoma town from its origin in the 1889 land rush through droughts, prairie fires, and two world wars

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Book Club

276 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Born in Beattie, Kansas, where her parents, Edward P. and Lina Cooper Debo, were homesteaders, Angle Debo liked to observe that her birth date coincided with the closing of the American frontier. She spent a lifetime examining the historical implications of that settlement for Native American Indians…

Debo was the author of numerous books and essays; salient works in addition to those listed in the text include her MA thesis, "The Historical Background of the American Policy of Isolation," Smith College Studies in History 9 (April-July 1924), pp. 71-165; The Five Civilized Tribes: Report on Social and Economic Conditions (1951); Geronimo: The Man, His Time, His Place (1976); and Oklahoma: A Guide to the Sooner State (1941), edited with John M. Oskison.

References

Fitzpatrick, E. (2004). DEBO, Angie Elbertha. Notable American Women, A Biographical Dictionary: Completing The Twentieth Century (Vol.5), 158.

Reviews

[Annika · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting historical look at a (fictional) prairie town in Oklahoma from about 1889 to 1945. Like first board being laid to US enters WW2. Good for Oklahoma history, small Midwestern town buffs, kind of prairie life, but not much beyond that. Also, of course, white perspective. It reads as just pages of chronological facts, a veritable Farmers Almanac of 50 years, not a story at all. No beloved characters, at least to anyone alive now.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Prairire City" describes what life was like in the frontier Oklahoma towns. It's a composite of several Oklahoma small towns, and most of the characters are fictional. It doesn't read like a novel, but we do follow the changing fortunes of several families as part of how the history of the town is told. It started with the 1889 land run and ended in 1943 (when the book was originally written). I covered economic developments (claiming the land, the train, the oil boom, etc.) and social and political movements (church, school, & political party growth, KKK, the New Deal, etc.) and things like how the locals reacted to the world wars. It was an interesting read.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of a lightly fictionalized central Oklahoma town from inception to 1944. I was interested in the community gatherings and entertainment, and the founding of several churches.
It was particularly fascinating to read of the ebb and flow of the economy, politics, and see the pendulum swings.
Note: book was written in 1944 and portrays occasional racial attitudes and comments that made me squirmy and outraged.

[J Lippe · Rating 4 out of 5]

View history from the perspective of a small town in Oklahoma from the land run of 1890s to Pearl Harbor. Author does a great job getting in the minds of early settlers to describe their culture, motivations and challenges. Also funny to see how cheap land and commodities were back in the day.

[Lee Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a book club, but otherwise I would not have finished it. I thought it might be interesting Oklahoma history since I live in the general area where the story happens, but it’s incredibly boring.

[McKenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for Stillwater Public Library's One Book, One Community event. I was very excited to learn more about Oklahoma history, as it is very different from many other pioneer experiences. It took me some dedication to get through this book, as it wasn't always the most exciting. I wished at times that Debo could have offered more details about people themselves, or individual experiences--for me, the chapter about the family whose house caught fire the night the father killed his wife and children was the most gripping because it was focused on individuals. I also thought Debo's description of the Land Run was excellent, and I was very interested in her speculations about what would happen after WWII, since she wrote this work in 1943. I can understand why Debo is considered Oklahoma's foremost historian, and I see the ultimate value of this work for its focus on social and community history, but I doubt this is a read that will profoundly affect me or stay with me for a long period of time.

[Scott Freeman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel that this book failed on both fronts. It was not compelling enough to be a quality history nor was it riveting enough to sustain interest as a fictional story. Fictionalizing what should have been an OK history textbook did not work for me.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book. A story of the settling of the American prairie related as the history of a fictional prairie town.

[Jessie Harvey]

This books marks my love and commitment to my temporary Oklahoma home.