1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910793809203321

Autore

Cobb Russell <1974->

Titolo

The Great Oklahoma Swindle : Race, Religion, and Lies in America's Weirdest State / / Russell Cobb

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Lincoln : , : University of Nebraska Press, , [2020]

Baltimore, Md. : , : Project MUSE, , 2020

©[2020]

ISBN

1-4962-2005-6

1-4962-2003-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource

Disciplina

976.6

Soggetti

Collective memory - Oklahoma

Oklahoma Religious life and customs

Oklahoma Social conditions

Oklahoma History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Voyage to Dementiatown -- You're not doing fine, Oklahoma -- The road to hell in Indian territory -- Where the hell is Oklahoma anyway? -- The long goodbye to Oklahoma's small-town Jews -- Okies in the promised land -- Among the tribe of the wannabes -- Backward, Christian soldier -- Keeping Oklahoma weird -- Cursed? -- The fire that time -- Uncommon commons.

Sommario/riassunto

"Look down as you buzz across America, and Oklahoma looks like another “flyover state.” A closer inspection, however, reveals one of the most tragic, fascinating, and unpredictable places in the United States. Over the span of a century, Oklahoma gave birth to movements for an African American homeland, a vibrant Socialist Party, armed rebellions of radical farmers, and an insurrection by a man called Crazy Snake. In the same era, the state saw numerous oil booms, one of which transformed the small town of Tulsa into the “oil capital of the world.” Add to the chaos one of the nation’s worst episodes of racial violence, a statewide takeover by the Ku Klux Klan, and the rise of a paranoid far-right agenda by a fundamentalist preacher named Billy James



Hargis and you have the recipe for America’s most paradoxical state. Far from being a placid place in the heart of Flyover Country, Oklahoma has been a laboratory for all kinds of social, political, and artistic movements, producing a singular list of weirdos, geniuses, and villains. In The Great Oklahoma Swindle Russell Cobb tells the story of a state rich in natural resources and artistic talent, yet near the bottom in education and social welfare. Raised in Tulsa, Cobb engages Oklahomans across the boundaries of race and class to hear their troubles, anxieties, and aspirations and delves deep to understand their contradictory and often stridently independent attitudes. Interweaving memoir, social commentary, and sometimes surprising research around the themes of race, religion, and politics, Cobb presents an insightful portrait that will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about the American Heartland." -- Publisher's description.