'American Serengeti,' 'Imperial Plots' named book prize finalists

Two books showing vastly different yet fascinating facets of the Great Plains are the finalists for the 2017 Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize, which seeks out outstanding scholarship on any Great Plains topic.

This year’s finalists, selected by a panel of judges are:

• “American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains” by Dan Flores (University Press of Kansas)

• “Imperial Plots: Women, Land and the Spadework of British Colonialism on the Canadian Prairies” by Sarah Carter (University of Manitoba Press)

George Wolf, chair of the book prize committee, said the judges were impressed by the scope, originality and deep research of this year’s contenders.

“Flores’ book opens readers’ eyes to the abundance of mammalian wildlife – pronghorn, bison, wild horses, gray wolves, coyotes, grizzly bears – that inhabited the Great Plains 200 years ago and the story of its loss,” he said. “Carter’s study explores the profound conflicts between official British settler colonial policy and the histories of indigenous, British and non-British European women farmers in the Canadian prairie west.

“Though radically different in focus, both books illuminate significant dimensions of the Great Plains story with straightforwardness and insight.”

The Stubbendieck Distinguished Book Prize celebrates the most outstanding scholarship about the Great Plains during the past year. The winner of the $10,000 cash prize will be announced in May. The author will be invited to travel to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to present a lecture on the topic of the book. Only first-edition, full-length, nonfiction books published and copyrighted in 2016 were evaluated for the award. Nominations were made by publishers or authors.

For more information on the award or the Center for Great Plains Studies, click here.