Oh, Give Me a Home: Western Contemplations (Literature of the American West)

Evoking memorable images of the American West, the old cowboy song “Home on the Range” is both nostalgic and eternally appealing. The verses remind us of the sweep of history, while their innocence indicates the way westerners still tend to view the land.

In lyrical prose, Ann Ronald’s Oh, Give Me a Home muses on the words of the beloved ballad, exploring what it means to be a westerner today and speculating on how our present actions are shaping the West for future generations. Through Ronald’s eyes, we see the western world, not through rose-colored glasses, but through a prism of peaks and canyons and big sky—landscapes that continue to promise freedom, optimism, and infinite possibilities.

Oh, Give Me a Home also crosses into a new American West—a land of Indian gaming and cloud seeding, wildlife management and urban forest fires, theme parks and pay-per-view scenery. It is a realistic, yet fond look at the West, a “home” that for many of us is as much a state of mind as it is an actual place.