Nebraska Moments

Donald R. Hickey is a professor of history at Wayne State College. Susan A. Wunder is an associate professor of education at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. John R. Wunder is a professor of history and journalism at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

"Each chapter in Nebraska Moments opens with a facet of the state's past and gracefully broadens the horizon to reveal the timeless implications of the initial story. Here are the sagas of people of all backgrounds who over nearly three centuries have made Nebraska's history. Every state ought to have such a book!"—Harl A. Dalstrom, coauthor of Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs "Reading Nebraska Moments gives one an accurate perception that the state has—and continues to reflect—a very diverse past, present, and future."—Miguel A. Carranza, professor of sociology and ethnic studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln "This new edition of Nebraska Moments offers hours of reading pleasure about Nebraska's rich and often quirky history. From ill-conceived military campaigns to English-language-only responses to immigrants to savvy political women, the Wunders remind us that today's newspaper headlines have their origins in our past."—Jane Renner Hood, executive director, Nebraska Humanities Council "This is a fun way to soak up local history."—Carol Bicak, Omaha World-Herald

• IntroductionTimeline  1         The Villasur Expedition2         Old Bellevue3         The Oregon Trail4         The Kansas-Nebraska Act5         The Pony Express6         Daniel Freeman and Homesteading7         Nebraska statehood and the First Governor8         The Fight for the Capital9         Red Cloud and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 186810        The Union Pacific Railroad11        The Murder of Crazy Horse at Fort Robinson12        The Trial of Standing Bear13        Buffalo Bill Cody and the Wild West Show14        The Great Nebraska Migration15        J. Sterling Morton and Arbor Day16        The Blizzard of '8817        William Jennings Bryan and Agrarian Protest18        The Rise of Omaha19        Charles E. Bessey and the Nebraska National Forest20        General John J. Pershing and World War I21        Fr. Edward Flanagan, the Abbott Sisters, and Nebraska's Children22        The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 and Nebraska's Doctors23        Meyer v. Nebraska (1923)24        Willa Cather and her Pulitzer Prize25        The Nebraska State Capitol, Great Plains Icon26        Nebraska's Would-be Vice Presidents27        The Pound Family28        Nebraska's Literary Renaissance29        George W. Norris and the Unicameral30        The Nebraska Home Front and World War II31        Nebraska's Visual Feast32        Nebraska's Scientists33        Offutt Air Force Base34        The Ogallala Aquifer35        Leaders in the Making: Omaha's Gerald Ford and Malcolm X36        Becoming Madame Governor37        The University of Nebraska Football Champions38        The Murder of Brandon Teena39        The Kearney Arch