Winner of Great Plains book prize to give Olson Seminar Sept. 27

Released on 09/11/2006, at 12:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln

WHEN: Wednesday, Sep. 27, 2006

WHERE: Great Plains Art Museum, Hewit Place

Lincoln, Neb., September 11th, 2006 —
Louis Warren photo
Louis Warren photo
"Buffalo Bill's America"

Louis S. Warren, who received the Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize for his book, "Buffalo Bill's America: William Cody and the Wild West Show," will present a talk at 3:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St.

His lecture will lead off the 2006-07 Paul A. Olson Seminars in Great Plains Studies. It is free and open to the public, as is a reception following the talk.

"The story of William Cody's rise from buffalo hunter and cavalry scout to world's most famous showman is one of the strangest in American history," Warren said. "What inspired this Nebraskan to create the Wild West show, a traveling community that included hundreds of Indians, cowboys, vaqueros and others? What accounts for the show's remarkable success on both sides of the Atlantic over three decades of entertaining the world public?" In pursuing the real story of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show, Warren uncovers fascinating insights not only into the intersection of western history and western myth, but into the making of modern America.

Warren is the W. Turrentine Jackson professor of western U.S. history at the University of California, Davis, where he teaches the history of the American West and environmental history. Raised in Nevada, he earned his B.A. at Columbia University and his Ph.D. at Yale University. Warren is also the author of "The Hunters Game: Poachers and Conservationists in Twentieth-Century America" (Yale University Press, 1997), which won the Western Heritage Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction Book from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

James Stubbendieck, director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Center for Great Plains Studies, said the book prize was created to stress the interdisciplinary importance of the Great Plains in today's publishing and educational market. "Warren will receive a medallion created for the book prize and will talk about his book, which will give our audience a chance to hear about Buffalo Bill as well as Warren's journey in writing about this colorful Nebraskan," Stubbendieck said.

Two other Olson seminars are scheduled for the fall semester (both begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Great Plains Art Museum and are free and open to the public):

Oct. 18: "Childhood Treasures: Quilts Made for and by Children," Mary Ghormley of Lincoln.

Nov. 15: "Mari Sandoz and the Making of a Plains Historian: Life at the Raucous and Eccentric University of Nebraska and Nebraska State Historical Society, 1923-1933," John R. Wunder, professor of history and journalism, UNL.

For more information, telephone (402) 472-3082 or visit www.unl.edu/plains.

Contacts: James Stubbendieck, Director, Center for Great Plains Studies, (402) 472-3082; Kim Weide, Events Coordinator, Center for Great Plains Studies (402) 472-3964 or Linda Ratcliffe, Publications Specialist, Center for Great Plains Studies, (402) 472-3065.