Bird, Kansas - Hardcover

Parker, Tony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0394577949 ISBN 13: 9780394577944

Publisher: Knopf, 1989

Synopsis

The citizens of the small town of Bird, Kansas, talk about the land they call home, their motivations, hopes, and dreams, their stories and their fears, and the day-to-day realities of their lives

About this title

From Library Journal:

In the classic manner of Toqueville's Democracy in America (1835), Englishman Parker looks at the lives, values, and hopes of Americans from the nation's heartland. Bird is a fictitious town, but Parker's interviews are with actual individuals with fictitious identities. These "real" people reflect on their past and future plans and they represent a broad array of interests--business people, wives, public officials, educators, students, and blacks. In a few pages each, the reader discovers these ordinary Americans. In all, we meet about 100 Bird residents. The result is a unique mix of stories and opinions about the lives and interests of an American community. Parker has a pleasant writing style that entertains yet does not attempt to hide the dislikes and criticisms of his subjects. His book is important for its vivid descriptions of American life. Recommended for most collections.
- Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Parker ( Red Hill: A Mining Community ) here excerpts with telling effect nearly 100 interviews he made at a farming town in Kansas. "So now this here's Main Street," says sheriff Jim Arnoldsen, who offers to "show him around." A high school foursome discuss sex and patriotism; an accident victim tells how he "travels" through books read in his wheelchair; a school counselor, county attorney and judge (all women) are cheery and proud; a former deputy sheriff drives a school bus at age 74; an auto dealer finds God. All seem content with peaceful prairie-town life where everyone knows everyone. This is a charming and broadly penetrating survey of a quiet mid-American community. But that's it. Nothing much happens. Except that, for a brief 16 pages, Parker travels a few miles away, to a black community called "Nicodemus" which continues to remain apart.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1989
• ISBN 10: 0394577949
• ISBN 13: 9780394577944
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 327