David Wishart, professor of geography, has received a 2014 Nebraska Book Award in the non-fiction (history) category for his book "The Last Days of the Rainbelt." The awards are presented by the Nebraska Center for the Book.
"The award is an honor and a reassurance that the time I spent researching and writing the book was worthwhile," Wishart said. "It's another step for me in trying to understand the Great Plains."
From 1885-89, thousands flocked to western Kansas, southwestern Nebraska and eastern Colorado following the mythical "Rainbelt." When the region suffered a deep, protracted drought in the mid-1890s, the settlers' hopes and expectations of a land filled with agricultural and social promise were shattered.
"The myth of the Rainbelt was laid to rest," Wishart said.
"The Last Days of the Rainbelt" chronicles what life was like in the heyday of that settlement in the 1880s and in the abandonment of the area in the mid-1890s. Many counties in the region lost more than one-third of their population from 1890 to 1900; some lost as much as two-thirds.
"The Last Days of the Rainbelt" is published by the University of Nebraska Press and is available for purchase at http://go.unl.edu/aj5b.
The Celebration of Nebraska Books is sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska and the Nebraska Library Commission, in partnership with the Friends of the University of Nebraska Press. The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at the Nebraska Library Commission and brings together the state's readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is supported by the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development and coordination of library and information services, "bringing together people and information."
— Mekita Rivas, Natural Resources