Wyoming author Samuel Western reads from and discusses his new book, The Spirit of 1889: Restoring the Lost Promise of the High Plains and Northern Rockies, on Thursday, Feb. 6 at Elk River Books.
According to the publisher, “North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho wrote, or rewrote, their state constitutions in August 1889. These documents were remarkably inclusive and progressive: state ownership of water, suffrage for women, curbing the power of the railroads, and an eight-hour workday. These states, the ‘89ers’ as Western calls them, exhibited a spirit of commonweal inclusivity that set them apart.
“Today, legislators in these five states have spurned these inclusive values. Instead, they promote the narrative of exclusion and lean toward authoritarianism. In their current condition, these states are in direct contradiction of the progressive values of their 1889 Constitutions.
“Western calls for a radical rethinking of what rural America is and could be. The Spirit of 1889 aims to shed light on how these states have drifted so far from where they began and what might be done to reclaim those original values.”
The Cowboy State Daily notes, “If Sam Western’s The Spirit of 1889 ruffles some feathers, good. If it makes some see the state we all love from a different angle, and think about how we can make it look like our founders envisioned … that’s even better.”
Western has covered the northern Rocky Mountain region for the Economist for 25 years, and also taught economic history at the University of Wyoming. He is the author of Pushed Off the Mountain, Sold Down the River: Wyoming’s Search for Its Soul and other books. A two-time recipient of the Wyoming Literary Fellowship for fiction, he is also a finalist for the High Plains Books Award for poetry. He lives in Sheridan, Wyoming.
Elk River Books is located at 122 S. 2nd St. in downtown Livingston. The event begins at 7 pm, and a book signing and reception will follow. For those who can’t attend in person, the event will live-stream at YouTube.com/ElkRiverBooks.
