The latest of the local encyclopedias is the University of Nebraska Press\u27s Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. This work was long in the making: the idea for the encyclopedia emerged out of the University of Nebraska\u27s Center for Great Plains Studies in the late 1980s. Somewhere along the way, the editors of the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains decided to organize the entries not alphabetically but thematically. This thematic organization has its virtues, especially for readers interested in particular subjects. As editor David Wishart explains, the thematic chapters provide  an interpretive function which is lacking in purely alphabetical works.  Yet the thematic organization removes much possibility for experiencing one of the unique pleasures of leafing through an encyclopedia: being surprised by an interesting entry that lies right next to the entry one sought

Isenberg, Andrew C

English

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University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 2006 Review Essay: Encyclopedia of the Great Plains Andrew C. Isenberg Temple University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly  Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons Isenberg, Andrew C., "Review Essay: Encyclopedia of the Great Plains" (2006). Great Plains Quarterly. 127. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/127 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 126 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 2006 PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT The last few years have witnessed a remark-able trend among university presses: one by one, they have published encyclopedias detail-ing the history, cultures, and geographies of the city, state, or region in which they are located. The latest of the local encyclopedias is the University of Nebraska Press's Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. This work was long in the making: the idea for the encyclopedia emerged out of the University of Nebraska's Center for Great Plains Studies in the late 1980s. Somewhere along the way, the editors of the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains decided to organize the entries not alphabetically but thematically. This thematic organization has its virtues, especially for readers interested in particular subjects. As editor David Wishart explains, the thematic chapters provide "an interpretive function which is lacking in purely alphabetical works." Yet the thematic organiza-tion removes much possibility for experiencing one of the unique pleasures of leafing through an encyclopedia: being surprised by an interest-ing entry that lies right next to the entry one sought. Readers who look up "Drought" in the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains will not have their curiosities piqued by an unanticipated encounter with nearby entries on such diverse Published in GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY 26:2 (Spring 2006). Copyright © 2006 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.subjects as "Dodge City," "Dull Knife," or "Dude Ranching"-they will have to search through three different sections to find those entries. Nor will readers looking for "Drought" find it in the "Physical Environment" section-they must look instead in the "Water" chapter. What the thematic organization thus gains in "interpre-tive function" it sacrifices in serendipity, acces-sibility, and ease of use. Each chapter begins with a long interpre-tive essay. Bret Wallach, a cultural geographer at the University of Oklahoma, introduces the "Physical Environment" chapter with a five-page overview that covers Great Plains topography, geology, climate, hydrology, bio-geography, and soils. Just below the surface of the essay is the long-standing question of whether the Great Plains is best characterized by stability or unpredictable change. Wallach is comfortable with subjects that lend them-selves more readily to an emphasis on stability: his subsections on topography and geology have an air of confidence and authority. That authority evaporates when he turns to a dis-cussion of climate, however: Wallach all but throws up his hands in despair, writing that "it is difficult to provide a coherent description of the climate of the Plains." As Wallach points out, part of that incoherence stems from the dramatic differences in temperature between southern Alberta (120 frosdree days per year) and Abilene (230 days). But most of the inco-herence results from the unpredictability of precipitation, which Wallach calls the "most important" aspect of the region's climate. In his discussion of precipitation, he tries to impose as much coherence as he can by dividing the Great Plains by isohyets, which break the region into narrow strips running north and south. The easternmost strip's average annual precipitation is 24 inches, 20 inches in the Central Plains, and 16 inches closest to the Rocky Mountains. Yet such averages are as misleading as they are informative. Belle Fourche, South Dakota, for instance, has an average annual precipitation of almost 17 inches. Between 1931 and 1998, however, annual precipitation in Belle Fourche was within 25 percent of the average only about REVIEW ESSAYS 127 half of the time, ranging from over 29 inches in 1995 to 7.6 inches in 1934. Among the sixty-nine entries in "Physical Environment," only a handful-"Blizzards," "Chinooks," "Dust Bowl," "Grasshoppers," "Thunderstorms," "Tornadoes," and "Climate" itself-emphasize the unpredictability of the Plains environment. An appreciation for the stochastic quality of the Plains environment is notably missing from the entry on bison. Recent scholarship on the bison has shown that the population of the species was, at no more than thirty million, much smaller than previously imagined. That population was also far more susceptible to environmental pressures such as drought than was once thought. The historic bison population was likely prone to consider-able fluctuation. Its great decline in the nine-teenth century was not the only time the species flirted with extinction. Between 6000 and 2500 BCE and again between 500 and 1300 CE, bison remains were largely absent from Paleoindian kill sites, indicating steep declines in the den-sity of the species. The entries in the "Physical Environment" chapter make nods toward this kind of environmental turbulence, but envelop these points within an overall emphasis on durability and stability. Wallach alludes again to that kind of timeless stability when he concludes his essay by writ-ing, "Unique to the continent in always open and endless vistas, the Plains is a place to teach us how it feels to be free." That's a sentiment that will likely appeal to the provincial pride of some readers. Yet a greater appreciation for the unpredictability of the Plains environment in this chapter might have taught a more meaning-ful and, one might daresay, substantive lesson: that the Great Plains environment upon which many people depend is dynamic. As the near-extinction of the bison and the disaster of the Dust Bowl demonstrated, our ability to sustain ourselves upon this unpredictable environment is tenuous. ANDREW C. ISENBERG Department of History Temple University 

Review Essay: Encyclopedia of the Great Plains

UNL | Libraries

University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 
Great Plains Quarterly Great Plains Studies, Center for 
2006 
Review Essay: Encyclopedia of the Great Plains 
Andrew C. Isenberg 
Temple University 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly 
 Part of the Other International and Area Studies Commons 
Isenberg, Andrew C., "Review Essay: Encyclopedia of the Great Plains" (2006). Great Plains Quarterly. 127. 
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/greatplainsquarterly/127 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Great Plains Studies, Center for at 
DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Great Plains Quarterly by an 
authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. 
126 GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY, SPRING 2006 
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT 
The last few years have witnessed a remark-
able trend among university presses: one by 
one, they have published encyclopedias detail-
ing the history, cultures, and geographies of the 
city, state, or region in which they are located. 
The latest of the local encyclopedias is the 
University of Nebraska Press's Encyclopedia 
of the Great Plains. This work was long in the 
making: the idea for the encyclopedia emerged 
out of the University of Nebraska's Center for 
Great Plains Studies in the late 1980s. 
Somewhere along the way, the editors of 
the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains decided 
to organize the entries not alphabetically but 
thematically. This thematic organization has 
its virtues, especially for readers interested in 
particular subjects. As editor David Wishart 
explains, the thematic chapters provide "an 
interpretive function which is lacking in purely 
alphabetical works." Yet the thematic organiza-
tion removes much possibility for experiencing 
one of the unique pleasures of leafing through 
an encyclopedia: being surprised by an interest-
ing entry that lies right next to the entry one 
sought. Readers who look up "Drought" in the 
Encyclopedia of the Great Plains will not have 
their curiosities piqued by an unanticipated 
encounter with nearby entries on such diverse 
Published in GREAT PLAINS QUARTERLY 26:2 (Spring 2006). 
Copyright © 2006 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
subjects as "Dodge City," "Dull Knife," or "Dude 
Ranching"-they will have to search through 
three different sections to find those entries. 
Nor will readers looking for "Drought" find it in 
the "Physical Environment" section-they must 
look instead in the "Water" chapter. What the 
thematic organization thus gains in "interpre-
tive function" it sacrifices in serendipity, acces-
sibility, and ease of use. 
Each chapter begins with a long interpre-
tive essay. Bret Wallach, a cultural geographer 
at the University of Oklahoma, introduces 
the "Physical Environment" chapter with a 
five-page overview that covers Great Plains 
topography, geology, climate, hydrology, bio-
geography, and soils. Just below the surface 
of the essay is the long-standing question of 
whether the Great Plains is best characterized 
by stability or unpredictable change. Wallach 
is comfortable with subjects that lend them-
selves more readily to an emphasis on stability: 
his subsections on topography and geology 
have an air of confidence and authority. That 
authority evaporates when he turns to a dis-
cussion of climate, however: Wallach all but 
throws up his hands in despair, writing that "it 
is difficult to provide a coherent description of 
the climate of the Plains." As Wallach points 
out, part of that incoherence stems from the 
dramatic differences in temperature between 
southern Alberta (120 frosdree days per year) 
and Abilene (230 days). But most of the inco-
herence results from the unpredictability of 
precipitation, which Wallach calls the "most 
important" aspect of the region's climate. In his 
discussion of precipitation, he tries to impose as 
much coherence as he can by dividing the Great 
Plains by isohyets, which break the region into 
narrow strips running north and south. The 
easternmost strip's average annual precipitation 
is 24 inches, 20 inches in the Central Plains, 
and 16 inches closest to the Rocky Mountains. 
Yet such averages are as misleading as they are 
informative. Belle Fourche, South Dakota, for 
instance, has an average annual precipitation 
of almost 17 inches. Between 1931 and 1998, 
however, annual precipitation in Belle Fourche 
was within 25 percent of the average only about 
REVIEW ESSAYS 127 
half of the time, ranging from over 29 inches in 
1995 to 7.6 inches in 1934. 
Among the sixty-nine entries in "Physical 
Environment," only a handful-"Blizzards," 
"Chinooks," "Dust Bowl," "Grasshoppers," 
"Thunderstorms," "Tornadoes," and "Climate" 
itself-emphasize the unpredictability of the 
Plains environment. An appreciation for the 
stochastic quality of the Plains environment is 
notably missing from the entry on bison. Recent 
scholarship on the bison has shown that the 
population of the species was, at no more than 
thirty million, much smaller than previously 
imagined. That population was also far more 
susceptible to environmental pressures such as 
drought than was once thought. The historic 
bison population was likely prone to consider-
able fluctuation. Its great decline in the nine-
teenth century was not the only time the species 
flirted with extinction. Between 6000 and 2500 
BCE and again between 500 and 1300 CE, bison 
remains were largely absent from Paleoindian 
kill sites, indicating steep declines in the den-
sity of the species. The entries in the "Physical 
Environment" chapter make nods toward this 
kind of environmental turbulence, but envelop 
these points within an overall emphasis on 
durability and stability. 
Wallach alludes again to that kind of timeless 
stability when he concludes his essay by writ-
ing, "Unique to the continent in always open 
and endless vistas, the Plains is a place to teach 
us how it feels to be free." That's a sentiment 
that will likely appeal to the provincial pride of 
some readers. Yet a greater appreciation for the 
unpredictability of the Plains environment in 
this chapter might have taught a more meaning-
ful and, one might daresay, substantive lesson: 
that the Great Plains environment upon which 
many people depend is dynamic. As the near-
extinction of the bison and the disaster of the 
Dust Bowl demonstrated, our ability to sustain 
ourselves upon this unpredictable environment 
is tenuous. 
ANDREW C. ISENBERG 
Department of History 
Temple University 


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