A Prairie Grove

by Donald Culross Peattie

An early Illinois history, focusing on one specific geographic location (the prairie grove of the title), told in an imaginative way. Or has Peattie himself describes
"...I write it not literally but as a true legend. There are many kinds of story; we all like to hear and tell funny stories and Lincoln stories and wonder stories, and stories of the old times, lucky stories, war stories, and some of us esteem the worth of a bitter anecdote or some tale of a grand folly. We recognize that these are so many facets of the gem of truth; they give it its sparkle and its prismatic surfaces. Merely one surface is the relation we call history.
The writing of history is for historians. I may not walk within their preserves. But they do not allow themselves to stray where I intend to go."

Genres: History

274 pages

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Donald Culross Peattie was a U.S. botanist, naturalist and author. He was described by Joseph Wood Krutch as "perhaps the most widely read of all contemporary American nature writers" during his heyday. He was nature columnist for the The Washington Star from 1924 to 1935.
His nature writings are distinguished by a poetic and philosophical cast of mind and are scientifically scrupulous. His best known works are the two books (out of a planned trilogy) on North American trees which he wrote in the late 1940s and early '50s. These were published as a single volume for the first time in April 2007 as A Natural History of North American Trees. (Unfortunately, this hardbound volume reduces the two books' original 257 mini-essays to only 112 and includes only 135 of Paul Landacre's original 365 woodcut illustrations.)

Reviews

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Peattie's story centers on a prairie grove in Illinois, the Indians who originally lived there, the French missionaries and soldiers who came for a while and didn't last, and the New Englanders who came as pioneers to settle it. There is a wonderful chapter about Chicago that begins "Franklin came back from Chicago with ideas. The town was a mudhole, and full of riffraff, but there was money in it. It had a future..." It's prose is smooth, making for a quick read. The author includes an annotated bibliography of primary references at the end. History provides the lathe that Peattie then imaginatively hangs his story on. He writes that History "cannot stop to listen to individual forgotten heart beats. But I shall listen, and I will claim the poet's right to say he knows what they think and feel who are too headlong in life to make a song of it." The only thing I found wanting was some sort of reference to time or period. I can guess that the pioneers arrive sometime in the 1830s since Chicago had been established, but it is very unclear when exactly the French were there (he mentions something about the passage of two centuries between events, so I can guess loosely that the French part of the story occured sometime around the 1630s, but that seems incredibly early to me). Minor quibble since the book was not intended to be a lesson in literal history.

[Susanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This nonfiction book, written in 1938, is beautifully written, almost poetic. Although the story focuses on the history of one small location in Illinois, a grove of trees, the narrative centers on the first settlers in that region. Peattie's thick descriptions slows the reading, and having "nature" be the main character makes it hard to stay involved. However, if you are a history bug or a naturalist, too, this is the book for you. The book is also well documented with many primary resources as support.