AftertakingDavisD.Joyce’scourseinOklahomahistory,astudentoncesaid,“IsawanOklahomaI’dneverseenbefore.““Thisisasplendidcollectionofwritingsinthetruespiritofa’people’shistory’.Itbeginswithadelightful,wryoverlookatOklahomabyGeorgeMilburn,andgoesontotellaboutthestateinwayrarelyseenintraditionalhistories.Thereareaccountsofprogressivism,ofsocialism,oflaborradicalism,ofIndianresistance,ofblackstruggleagainstsegregation,ofwomen’scampaignsforabortionrights.Itincludesfascinatingportraitsofpeople,somefamous,someobscure,whowereengagedinthesestruggles.Ihopethisbecomeamodelforsimilarvolumesonotherstates.“-HowardZinn,authorofPeople’sHistoryoftheUnitedStates.Contents:“Oklahoma,“GeorgeMilburn;“TheDifficultyofCelebratinganInvasion,“JeraldC.Walker;“ProgressivisminOklahomaPolitics,1900-1913:AReinterpretation,“KennyL.Brown;“KateBarnard,Progressivism,andtheWest,“SuzanneJ.CrawfordandLynnR.Musslewhite;“’InDeathYouShallnotWearItEither’ThePersecutionofMennonitePacifistsinOklahoma,“MarvinE.Kroeker;“SheNeverWeakened:TheHeroismofFredaAmeringer,“JohnThompson;“WobbliesintheOilfields:TheSuppressionoftheIndustrialWorkersoftheWorldinOklahoma,“Nigelsellars;“TheRoadOnceTaken:SocialistMedicineinSouthwesternOklahoma,“AlanaHughes;“WoodyGuthrie:TheOklahomaYears,1912-1929,“HarryMenig;“TheNewDealComestoShawnee,“DaleE.Soden;“TheSocialGospelofNicholasComfort,“BobCottrell;“BeholdtheWalls,“ClaraLuper;“TheCaseoftheDeerslayer,“StanSteiner;“BlackOklahomaandSenseofplace,“JimmieL.Franklin;“TheSouthernInfluenceonOklahoma,“DanneyGoble;“TheCreationofanOklahomaReligiousCoalitionforAbortionRights:APresonal/HistoricalEssay“CaroleJaneJoyce;“ViolenceandOppressionofWomeninRuralOklahoma,“ElizabethD.Barlow;“Oklahoma’sGayLiberationMovement,“ThomasE.Guild,JoanLuxenburg,andKeithSmith;“EvenAmongtheSooners,ThereAreMoreImportantThingsthanFootball,“AlanEhrenhalt.InrevealinganOklahomamanyhaveneverseen,thisbookcanremindOklahomacitizensofchangesyettobemade,showhowtomarkthem,and(perhapsmostimportantofall)inspirethemtodothejob.
