Every once and a while something pleasant comes in the mail besides junk and bills. This happened a couple of weeks ago when the NEBRASKAland Foundation notified me that they were donating a several books to the library. This is a cooperative project between the NEBRASKAland Foundation and the University of Nebraska Press in connection with the Statehood Celebration this March. All the books are about Nebraska or have been written by a Nebraskan.

Some of the books are readily recognizable like John Neihardt’s "Black Elk Speaks" and Mari Sandoz’s "Cheyenne Autumn" and "The Horsecatcher".

"A Different Plain: Contemporary Nebraska Fiction Writers" is a compilation of fiction, written by Nebraska authors.

"Guide to Nebraska Authors" is reference work that contains biographical material on Nebraska writers.

This article will highlight four of the other boosk--two works of non-fiction and two of fiction.

"Impertinences: Select Writings of Elia Peattie, a Journalist in the Gilded Age" edited and with a biography by Susanne George Bloomfield.

During the period of time that Willa Cather was growing up in Red Cloud and starting college, another Nebraska woman was making a name for herself as a writer for the Omaha World-Herald. Her name was Elia Peattie. She wrote fictional works, journalism, and editorial columns and tackled the social issues of the day. This was the era of muckraking journalists, and Mrs. Peattie addressed such issues as the starving Indian women, prostitution, and lynchings. In January 1891 after the massacre at Wounded Knee, Elia wrote two editorials, urging her readers to inform themselves about the facts of the tragedy. "Most persons seem to prefer misunderstanding every Indian situation," she wrote, and then she went on to present the facts. She pulled no punches when she said, "There is greed and dishonesty behind all of this." This was quite a statement for someone in 1891. In an October 1891 column, entitled "Law and the Lynchers", Elia directed her outrage at capital punishment, which she called "legal murder". During an era when the proper "sphere" for a woman was the home, Elia Peattie was her own woman and a Nebraskan worth reading and remembering.

"One House: The Unicameral’s Progressive Vision for Nebraska" by Charlyne Berens.

Since 1937 Nebraska is the only state in the union with a one-house legislature. A revolutionary idea at one time, now Nebraskans take the idea of the Unicameral for granted. The concept of a one-house legislature grew out of the Populist/Progressive Era and the belief in more efficient and democratic government. One of its chief proponents was Senator George Norris. Norris, who saw himself as a progressive, believed a one-house legislature less cumbersome, less partisan, more responsive to the people, and cheaper to operate. Charlyne Berens’ book tracks the history and development of the Nebraska Unicameral from the nineteenth century to the present. She considers the hopes of its advocates and the reality of what it has become--an informative book for anyone curious about Nebraska’s unique contribution to representative government.

"White Man’s Grave" by Richard Dooling.

Omaha native Richard Doolings’ book "White Man’s Grave" propels the reader from bankruptcy court in Indianapolis to the bush of Sierra Leone. Michael Milligan, a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa is missing. Two men begin looking for him. One of them is his father—an ambitious, driven bankruptcy attorney Randall Milligan. The other is his best friend Boone Westfall. To find Michael both men must negotiate a world of witchcraft, secret societies, and the supernatural. "White Man’s Grave" is a black comedy that forces the reader to consider the nature of evil.

"Sweet Eyes" by Jonis Agee.

"Sweet Eyes" is the first novel by UNL professor Jonis Agee and was a New York Times Notable Book. It is the story of family dysfunction, racism and an unsolved murder in a small Iowa town. Honey Parrish is a woman on the verge of insanity. Her affair with Jasper Johnson, a black man ignites the barely hidden racism in Divinty, Iowa, but it is Jaspar’s love that helps her deal with the demons from her past.

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