Sandhill Sundays and Other Recollections

"No one in our time wrote better than the late Mari Sandoz did, or with more authority and grace, about as many aspects of the Old West," said John K. Hutchens. The proof of that is in her powerful re-creation of pioneer days in the Sandhills of northwestern Nebraska in these autobiographical pieces written between 1929 and 1965. Those who have not read her classic Old Jules (1935) will find Sandhill Sundays and Other Recollections a colorful introduction to Sandoz Country, and those who have will look for the same landmarks and unforgettable people. They include the Sandoz patriarch, the fiery libertarian Old Jules; Marlizzie, the archetypal pioneer woman who was Mari's mother; siblings, chums, neighbors, homesteaders, and Indians, all individualized and defined by a harsh and lonely frontier. Dangers in every form-blizzards, fires, rattlesnakes, murderous men-are described, and, just as vividly, so are the pleasures afforded by country cooking, storytelling, pet animals, and the first phonograph for miles around. Even when she strays, as in the final piece, "Outpost in New York," Mari Sandoz never leaves the Sandhills in spirit. Included are a chronology of her career, a checklist of her writings, and a brief introduction by Virginia Faulkner.