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A Journey into the Great Plains
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Kirkus Reviews says Seldom Seen is, "A captivating read." |
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Kirkus Reviews, 10/1/09
A first-time author goes on walkabout in the
Great Plains. Like countless people, freelance writer Dobson was
feeling trapped. In 1995 he was working a dead-end job, and he felt
aimless and helpless. The only thing that comforted him was that
massive swath of land that stretched for hundreds of miles just west of
his hometown of Kansas City, Mo. The Great Plains had been soothing to
him as a child, even if he'd only taken in those endless golden oceans
from his father's car window. Dobson wondered if he could enhance that
feeling if he enveloped himself in the prairie, so he decided to walk
from his front step to Helena, Mont., hoping that the Plains could
somehow cure him. It did more than that. This isn't a book about the
author's personal musings on the road, but rather a chronicle of the
folks that, despite a lack of virtually everything except endless
space, have decided to live on the prairie. More surprisingly, these
people-the former carnival worker in Wyoming, the evangelicals in
Kansas, the would-be rock star in Nebraska-were eager to let Dobson
into their lives. The prairie, lovingly described by the author,
becomes the fabric that holds these people together. Their stories,
some as violent and powerful as a Midwestern thunderstorm, others as
calm as a breeze, create a captivating narrative, and Dobson finds the
common humanity that keeps people struggling against their
circumstances and striving to succeed, in whatever form that may take.
Restrained storytelling and a string of charming, relatable characters
make the prairie seem like much more than a flyover region.
“With open
eyes and open heart, Patrick Dobson shows us the heart of the nation.”
--David Shribman, executive editor of the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette; and syndicated columnist with Universal Press
“Lighting
out for the territories—as Mark Twain would have put it—Patrick Dobson
discovers his country, his neighbors, himself. Peter Jenkins (A Walk Across America) meets Robert
Pirsig (Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance). Seldom Seen
inspires the adventurer in me—as it should all of us—to go out and do something
similar.”
--Eddy L. Harris, critically acclaimed author of Mississippi
Solo: A River Quest, Native Stranger:
A Black American’s Journey into the Heart of Africa, South of Haunted Dreams, and Still
Life in Harlem
“This
intimate search for self-discovery and renewal is so well told, you'll
smell the dew on the morning grass, and you'll know you've found something
truly delicious. I've put in more than 100,000 miles, some on these very
highways. Dobson paints a clearer portrait with words than I ever captured
with cameras. Bravo!”
--Michael Murphy,
vice president of programming for Kansas City Public Television (KCPT Channel
19), producer and host of the Rare
Visions and Roadside Visions television program and author of the book by
the same title
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All Rights Reserved |
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