Capital City

by Mari Sandoz

First published in the dark days immediately before World War II, Capital City is Mari Sandoz's angriest and most political novel. Like many important American novels of the 1930s—John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath , John Conroy's The Disinherited , Robert Cantwell's Land of Plenty — Capital City depicts the troubles and responses of working people trapped in the Great Depression. It is a unique portrayal of the depression in the Great Plains, and a study of the forces that bitterly contended for wealth and power. Sandoz researched the daily life and behind-the-scenes operations of several state capitals in the thirties before drawing them together in this novel, part allegory, part indictment, part warning. Famous for her passionate writing, Sandoz gave Capital City the fuwll measure of ferocity and rage.

Genres: Fiction

343 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1982

About the author

Mari Susette Sandoz (May 11, 1896 – March 10, 1966) was a novelist, biographer, lecturer, and teacher. She was one of Nebraska's foremost writers, and wrote extensively about pioneer life and the Plains Indians.

Reviews

[Bill FromPA · Rating 4 out of 5]

... for patriotism springs up rank as weeds about a down tree where virility and courage are dying. (94)

Maybe even more than It Can't Happen Here, the 1930s novel for the Tr*mp era. Sandoz piles on the outrage a bit heavy - with so little time between them the enormity of any one of the acts of violence and unpunished lawlessness can't be fully absorbed by the reader or, it would seem, the characters. But her outrage puts fire in her pen and the sympathetic reader, at least, will be carried along. Not that this is just a parade of corruption and incipient fascism in the portmanteau state of "Kanewa"; Babbitry, boosterism, labor conflict, love stories, and a "king in disguise" character are all in the mix. This seems like too much, but I can't say I wished the novel to be more streamlined; it gives a genuine feel for life in a trans-Mississippi midwestern state capital from top to bottom. There's some humor amid the grimness, too, usually well integrated with the novel's themes: a widowed socialite who uses her husband's life insurance settlement to re-model her house fits out her library with a bulk purchase of expensive first editions; her thuggish son, a member of the fascistic "Gold Shirts", can only see them as potential fuel for a public book-burning.

Though the action takes place between Labor Day weekend and the weekend after Election Day, there is a lot of backstory shoehorned into the narrative. Sandoz wants to tell us everything about the city of Franklin, from its founding to the present day, a span of living memory for some, covering three generations. She even looks back to frontier days and the Indian wars in a few brief vignettes. Roots matter to this writer, and forgetting them is the precipitating step toward disaster. A great portrait of America in microcosm, like Robert Altman's Nashville.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mari Sandoz wrote this in 1939 just as the depression was ending and events leading up to World War II were beginning. She researched several Midwestern "capital cities" and set her story in the fictional city of Franklin in the fictional state of Kanewa (an amalgam of Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa).

Hamm Rufe who lives in poverty but writes for The Nation, and author, Abigail Allerton struggle against conservatism, bigotry, and the moneyed class. Not a particularly engaging or enjoyable read, but does make one wonder if things have changed all that much in the red section of the country ("red" meaning quite the opposite of what it does in the book).

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two stars because I don't remember much about the book.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

75 years later and this is still bitingly relevant. Much of the political mockery easily could have been written today. She was angry about many things and she did not pull punches.

[Sam Zeleski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for these times. Surprisingly strong policy positions addressed. Will reread soon.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A blistering indictment of American politics - a little too real for our times. Some things unfortunately never change, it seems.

[Isabel · Rating 2 out of 5]

purchased 12.2009 on cross country trip to NY. A stop at the Mari Sandoz museum at the University of Nebraska was my daily leg stretcher. I really wanted to like this book. The museum was lovely and being a west-coaster, I enjoyed a peak into the life of another region. It was partly my lack of knowledge of this region, and of the time period that inspired me to pick up this book (that, and the resemblance of the cover photo to one I have of my own grandfather). I was hoping this book would fill in some of the gaps, however, I was sorely disappointed. Like unruly cards in a hand of canasta, the characters in this book never came together in a way that resulted in a winning score. I wanted to like them, to connect with them, to care about them, but in my estimation the narrative was too rambling to accomplish that. I never found the outraged Sandoz that the cover of this book promised to deliver.in this book. And I yet have to find any book that can be included comparatively in the same sentence as Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath.