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Bad Land: An American Romance
Bad Land An American Romance
Author: Jonathan Raban
In 1909 maps still identified eastern Montana as the Great American Desert.  But in that year Congress, lobbied heavily by railroad companies, offered 320-acre tracts of land to anyone bold or foolish enough to stake a claim to them. Drawn by shamelessly inventive brochures, countless homesteaders--many of them immigrants--went west to...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780679759065
ISBN-10: 0679759069
Publication Date: 10/7/1997
Pages: 384
Rating:
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 39

3.6 stars, based on 39 ratings
Publisher: Vintage
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette
Members Wishing: 3
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Bad Land: An American Romance on
Helpful Score: 2
Regardless of the title....this book is not a love story. It is an historical account about immigration to rural America in Montana and North Dakota. If you like American History....this one is a must. Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.
reviewed Bad Land: An American Romance on + 15 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
As with any "romance," love for land is fatiguing and wearisome as the intense euphoria of possibilities become diminished with the brutal realities of economic and financial constraints.
reviewed Bad Land: An American Romance on + 191 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
I liked this book. Mostly because my grandparents homesteaded in Montana in the 1920's. It has a lot of history of how the land was given out, and the hardships that the people went through. It told of how the railroads were started, the weather, etc. Very much information.
jack-n-ivy-chinese avatar reviewed Bad Land: An American Romance on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book made my own past come alive. My father was born in Montana back in the twenties. His family were farmers who had immigrated from Wisconsin. I remember the stories about the thunderstorms and the blizzards that he told. This book fills in the missing pieces and explains how the family wound up there, and why they had to leave. Not to be missed if a trek across the plains is part of your history.
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