Red Dirt: Growing Up Okie (Haymarket (Paperback))

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Summary: history and struggles of the frontier settler class
Review: ...
The best of autobiographical works are those that convey, in the telling of one life story, larger truths than those we experience as individuals. To accomplish this feat with seeming effortlessness, as Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz has done with Red Dirt, is to create not only a valuable historical record, but a literary work that is a pleasure to read. Employing the finest storytelling skills, Dunbar-Ortiz lovingly recollects her youth in Oklahoma and the family dynamics she experienced "growing up Okie" during the mid-20th-century. In the process, she touches upon a host of social issues--among them racism, sexism, and economic disparity--that have plagued the U.S. since its earliest days. Perhaps most importantly, she offers one resounding voice from among a vast population--namely, the white underclass--that consistently has been underrepresented in historical texts, and misrepresented in popular culture. Exploding the notion of 'poor white trash,' Dunbar-Ortiz offers three-dimensional alternative as she reconstructs through her personal memoir the history and struggles of the frontier settler class and its descendants. As we move into the next century, Red Dirt is a text of vital significance to our collective humanity

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Summary: A New Fan
Review: I grew up in central Oklahoma and can identify with many of the themes Ms. Dunbar-Ortiz writes about in Red Dirt. I think anyone who is on a journey of self-discovery or is attempting to reconcile his or her past will enjoy this book as much as I did. I rarely read literature about Oklahoma that makes me proud to be an "Okie" - this book does just that.

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Summary: history and struggles of the frontier settler class
Review: I love this book. A book written about my home state with honesty and clarity of what it means to be Okie. Class struggles, hard working people, historic pain and abuse and the eventual dementia of a woman struggling with her suppressed indianess. Keep the spirit of the Wobblies alive!

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Summary: could not put down
Review: if you like books about the old way of living,you will love this book. it brings back memories of my childhood...

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Summary: Made sense out of the feelings I have had for a long time
Review: This has made sense of many feelings I have had about American History we have missed in our schools. It fills in the gaps left out by our white education system. My ancestry is from the same people. They did not stay among the poor but the traits brought out by the author rang true. I studied riots in America and never knew the reason for them or who the rioters were nor their cause. I feel blessed not having to have gone through these trials and thank God for his blessings and my upbringing. This does not mean we can take others for granted and understand their purpose and the contribution they have made. This book shows us to respect all our neibors alike. I think being ones self is a key here, they had no choice, and those that do are not honest with feelings just as the proud poor hide it from the rich. A paradox in being ones self, there is no profit in a lie, but it makes living bearable at times. Thanks for the good read and the realization it has made in my life. Dave...

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Summary: Dunbar-Ortiz has produced an American classic in biography.
Review: With the publication of Red Dirt Dunbar-Ortiz has made a major contribution to American biography. She has managed to write a Steinbeckian account of her childhood and youth in Oklahoma in the 1950s. The humanity and oppression of poor white people is writ large here. Red Dirt is informed by a feminist and class analysis but with great grace and touching honesty. like Meridel LeSueur's novels of 60 years ago, Dunbar-Ortiz shows the quotidian lives of working people who are ignored or riduculed by the outside world. The book is clear eyed and rich in detail. I used the book as a required text in a Sex and Gender course and it was a great hit among my students.