Apart from the four titles by Glancy, Askew, Dunbar-Ortiz, and Howe featured in my Red Dirt article, I would recommend the following recent publications:

Askew, Rilla. The Mercy Seat. New York: Viking Press, 1997.
In her acclaimed first novel, Askew drew on family stories about a difficult trek from Kentucky to the Indian Territory. Very effective in rendering the experiences of children on the frontier.

Beesley, Stanley W. Sweetwater, Oklahoma. Philadelphia: Xlibris Corp., 2000.
The author of Vietnam: The Heartland Remembers tells a series of stories about a modern-day town in Central Oklahoma. From boys who noodle for fish to a sheriff who must bring in his best friend to homeless who live in box crates near the Santa Fe Depot, a rich variety of human experience.

Brophy, Alfred L. and Randall Kennedy. Reconstructing the Dreamland: The Tulsa Race Riot of 1921. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
One of the better books about the Tulsa Riot, based on Tulsa Race Riot Commission findings in the 1990s. Would be worthwhile to consult while reading Askew's Fire in Beulah. Another good account is Tim Madigan'sThe Burning: Massacre, Destruction, and the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.

The Chronicles of Oklahoma. Published quarterly by the Oklahoma Historical Society. This journal is a treasure trove of Oklahoma stories and histories, often in very readable style. One recent issue (Spring 2001), for instance, contained stories of the removal policies that sent so many Native Americans to the Sooner state, the 1918 flu epidemic, and an account of how the military transformed a small airport into Oklahoma City's Will Rogers' field during World War II.

Glancy, Diane. Flutie. Wakefield, Rhode Island: Moyer Bell, 1998.
An impressive, inside look at a terminally shy girl, growing up in Western Oklahoma. Flutie's perseverance is expressed through a poetic narrative style.

Hollingsworth, A.B. Flatbellies. Chelsea, Michigan: Sleeping Bear Press, 2001.
High school golfers, finding their games, team unity, and adulthood in a town mighty like El Reno, where Hollingsworth grew up. You don't need to know golf to identify with these boys and their girlfriends.

Kingsolver, Barbara. Pigs in Heaven . New York: Harper, 1993.
Those who haven't discovered Barbara Kingsolver could do worse than start with this novel which centers on ethnic problems, the relations of "white" culture and a Native American culture attempting to hold on to its traditions. Kingsolver is particularly effective in creating characters trying to do the "right thing" in an environment which offers contradictory signals.

Letts, Billie.The Honk and Holler Opening Soon. New York: Warner Books, 1999.
This novel returns to Sequoia, Oklahoma, before the arrival Novalee, the Wal-Mart girl ofWhere the Heart Is. Letts focuses on folks who work at or patronize a run-down diner in the 1980s, when Vietnam was a living and painful memory for many. Featured are a paraplegic vet, a Vietnamese immigrant, and two waitresses. As in the first novel, Honk and Holler affirms the organic community found in small towns.

Mitchell, William R. Hiding Amy. Edmond, Ok.:Greystone Press, 2001.
Retired OBU English Professor, now part-time pastor, William Mitchell dramatizes the sensibility of an idealistic Christian, a young man who drops out of college and becomes entangled in the life of an abused child. Powerful in working through his dilemma as he discovers what it will take to save her.

Morgan, Dan. Rising in the West: The True Story of an "Okie" Family in Search of the American Dream. New York: Random House, 1992.
Inspired by John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, Dan Morgan studies an actual family that made the Depression Era trip from Sallisaw, Oklahoma to California. Through sociological research, he is able to enlarge the portraits of family members into a searching account of what happened to Okies after they hit California and became a major force in that state's political scene.

Morgan, Speer. The Freshour Cylinders. Denver: MacMurray and Beck Fiction, 1998.
Set in the 1930s, this award winning mystery compels reading as it delves into the selling and theft of Indian relics found in burial mounds, as well as Native American resistance to white exploitation.

Speer, Jess Willard and Bonnie Speer. Hillback to Boggy. Norman, Oklahoma: Reliance Press, 1991.
A very fetching memoir of a young boy's experience in the Thirties, when his family has to rough it in SE Oklahoma, living largely off the land.

Wallis, Michael.Way Down Yonder in the Indian Nation. NY: St. Martin's Press, 1993.
Enjoyable stories of Oklahoma, most gathered from previous publication in Oklahoma Today. Always personal in his approach and style, Wallis visits sites and commemorates colorful people from all over the state--a barbecue near Sand Springs, Woody Guthrie, cowboy life in the Panhandle, Wilma Mankiller, Oklahoma's 45th Infantry Division,
and Pretty Boy Floyd, among others.

Consult the website of the Oklahoma Center for the Book for a list of yearly winners of the Oklahoma Book Award for more recommendations in all categories: <www.odl.state.ok.us/ocb>.

And For Viewing:

Far and Away (1992) Somewhat successful attempt to make an epic of the 1893 land run in Oklahoma, starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as Irish immigrants. But not filmed in Oklahoma.

The Trail of Tears Annual drama presented each summer in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Where the Heart Is (2000) Natale Portman, Ashley Judd, and Stockard Channing are featured in this fairly faithful adaptation of Billie Letts' best seller about a teenager who lives in a Wal-Mart.

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