Fred L. Harris – författare

Following the Harvest tells the story of sixteen-year-old Will Haley, who journeys north in the summer of 1943 as a member of a wheat-harvesting crew.Traveling with his father, along with a hump-backed hired hand, a whiny truck driver and his pretty wife, two cousins from Mississippi, and his father's best friend, Will makes his way from Vernon, Oklahoma, to Rhame, North Dakota. Not everyone will make the return trip to Oklahoma, and when an accident claims a crew member's life, Will is forced to take charge and become mature beyond his years.""A well written, fun read that will make you understand why Harris is being included with the likes of Willa Cather and Larry McMurtry. He is truly that good."" - Tulsa WorldFred Harris, author of Coyote Revenge, Easy Pickin's, and sixteen books of nonfiction, has also had a distinguished career in politics and higher education. Twice elected to the U.S. Senate from Oklahoma, he is now Professor of Political Science at the University of New Mexico.

The well-known ""people's politician"" recalls his life and careerOne of Oklahoma's most famous native sons, Fred Harris faced life's challenges with the same resolve as a favorite uncle: ""Does people do it? If people does it, I can do it."" In this engaging memoir, he describes how he met those challenges head-on.A child of the Great Depression, Harris grew up in the small town of Walters, Oklahoma, where he was born in a two-room house. He describes that upbringing and his initiation into state politics, and tells how he was elected to the U.S. Senate at the age of thirty-three. As he recounts his experiences in national politics, he yields an insightful look at the turbulent 1960s and 1970s.Earning a reputation as a ""new populist,"" Harris chaired the national Democratic Party and was a serious presidential candidate. Along the way, he encountered such giants as Lyndon B. Johnson, Hubert Humphrey, and Robert F. Kennedy. Enlivening his account with firsthand conversations, Harris contributes to our understanding of the motivations and personalities of these figures - including the infamous tensions between Johnson and Kennedy. Despite rubbing elbows with such power brokers, Harris maintained his own reputation as a down-to-earth man of the people whose advocacy included American Indian causes.Harris accomplished much in his distinguished career, championing human rights at home and around the world. His masterfully written memoir attests to a philosophical consistency and humane liberalism that today are all too rare.