DescriptionThink of Willa Cather and think of Nebraska - its Divide, its plains, its colors, and awesome horizon lines. Her stories and novels embrace life there in the early 1900s as no other author's works have done, helping to forge her reputation as a major 20th-century writer. "Write what you know, " advised Cather's mentor Sarah Orne Jewett, and Cather responded by writing such masterpieces as the novels O Pioneers, My Antonia, and Alexander's Bridge, as well as the short fiction in this collection. Willa Cather: Stories includes "Peter, " "On the Divide, " "The Sculptor's Funeral, " "The Sentimentality of William Tavener, " "A Wagner Matinie, " and "Eric Hermannson's Soul, " and, like all of Cather's writing, is unforgettable in its renderings of the darker tones of American life and the often confounding tenacity of the human spirit.
DescriptionTed Hammond loves a good mystery, and in the spring of his fifth-grade year, he's working on a big one. How can his school in the little town of Plattsford stay open next year if there are going to be only five students? Out here on the Great Plains, in w…
DescriptionMeet three young family doctors, all related, who provide total care to farm families in Nebraska. One of them wears an earring, has a tattoo covering his back, makes house calls on a motorcycle, and is beloved by his patients. His brother, also a physician in a different rural area, raises horses in his spare time. Go into the examining room and listen to their patients. An intimate portrait of an almost vanished breed: the selfless country doctor. This is part of Helen Borten's A Sense of Place series. Mix Engineer: Marilyn Ries Funding: Corporation for Public Broadcasting…
DescriptionLife was hard on the Nebraska prairie, but for Alexandra Bergson, daughter of a Swedish immigrant family, her love of the land gave her courage and strength. When Alexandra's father dies, she takes over the care of her family and management of the farm, so that the Bergsons can stay in the place they've chosen for their home. O Pioneers! tells the story of a remarkable heroine, and draws on Cather's own experience growing up on the lonely and wild American prairies.
DescriptionThe Shimerda family come to Nebraska from Bohemia - but they find the promised land of opportunity a harsh and unforgiving reality. Young Jim Burden - the narrator of the tale - who lives with his grandparents on a homestead nearby, finds ways to be neighborly and to help the Shimerdas and in the process comes to befriend the daughter of the family, Ántonia. For Jim, Ántonia is an embodiment of the female pioneer - self-sufficient, vigorous, and strong enough to withstand the daily challenges of maintaining a family in a primitive countryside. Ántonia's character makes such an impression on Jim, that in later years, he feels compelled to immortalize her in words.
DescriptionThe brutal murders of three young boys paralyze the citizens of Platte City, Nebraska. What's worse is the grim realization that the man recently executed for the crimes was a copycat. When Sheriff Nick Morrelli is called to the scene of another grisly murder, it becomes clear that the real predator is still at large, waiting to kill again. Morrelli understands the urgency of the case terrorizing his community, but it's the experienced eye of FBI criminal profiler Maggie O'Dell that pinpoints the true nature of the evil behind the killings; a revelation made all the more horrific when Morrelli's own nephew goes missing. Maggie understands something else: the killer is enjoying himself, relishing his ability to stay one step ahead of her, making this case more personal by the hour. Because out there, watching, is a killer with a heart of pure and perfect evil.
