Coming for air
Jeanne is one of the people interviewed by the author and she talks about her parents and how they meet. Her mother used to live in one of the major cities in America but she got sick and was told she must go to the Plains to cure herself by inhaling the fresh air. Ironically, only a few years later, the air that was supposed to cure her became so deadly that it almost killed her daughter.
Do not want to go back
In the chapter titled The Wanderer, the author mentions a young girl kidnaped by the Indians and then raised as being one of their own. When the girl grew, she married an Indian and had children with him. Her husband was later captured and killed and she was taken by the Texan authorities as well. Ironically, instead of being glad of being rescued, the woman asked to be taken back to the Indian tribe and left to live in peace with them as they have become her family.
The city of trees
In the second chapter entitled No Man’s Land, the author mentions a city named Boise City, a place that was supposed to be an oasis of vegetation and a bustling city. Agencies tried to sell parcels of land in the city to foreigners and American people and the government tried everything it could to lure people in. ironically, the city that was sold so aggressively did not exist. The author notes how instead of a beautiful city, all it was there was an empty land where nothing grew.
The only resource that cannot be used up
In the second chapter, the author talks about how more and more people moved in the highlands and tried to make a profit out of farming. While some people showed concern towards the way the land was destroyed and also towards the excessive farming techniques, the state tried to reassure the people that the land can take it. In fact, they told the people how the land was the only resource that could never be used up. This is however ironic as it is later proven when the land is irreparably damaged by the excessive farming techniques.
Starving with too much food
In the fifth chapter, the author mentions the crash of the stock market and how the people were affected by it. While the people living in the High Plains did not feel the crash, the people in the city felt it bad. Many people remained without jobs and some found themselves in the position they could no longer afford to buy food. Ironically, in the High Plains, the people could not sell their wheat and it remained in the fields, rotting away. The food that could have feed an entire country remained unused thrown away by the farmers who could not make a profit out of it.
