Bad Land: An American Romance
Jonathan Raban
"When Dad came out here, he had twenty-five dollars, a wagon, and a mule." So begins the stories of countless homesteaders who, in the first decades of this century, seized an astounding government offer: three hundred and twenty free acres in the stark, dry Plains of Montana and the Dakotas. Seduced by the promises from railroad companies, by liberal credit from bankers, and by scientific claims about dry-land farming; seduced, above all, by the prospect of a new life in the New World, Americans and Europeans came determined to put down roots and prosper. In Bad Land, Jonathan Raban imaginatively re-creates the austere terrain that once housed their hopes; he portrays the people whose dreams foundered there and the survivors who endured amidst the ruins of those who fled.
Award History
1 wins · 1 total
| Award | Year | Result | Category / Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Book Critics Circle Award for NonfictionMajor | 1996 | Winner | Secondary source |
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies
This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.
01 Central figures
None extracted with sufficient confidence.
02 Central places
None extracted with sufficient confidence.
These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.
- Plains of Montana and the Dakotas62%
- New World40%
03 Suggested argument
No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.
This suggestion did not meet the normal display threshold and is more likely to be wrong.
Homesteaders on the dry Plains of Montana and the Dakotas—lured by railroad promises, credit, and dry-land farming claims—often failed, leaving ruins and survivors after their dreams foundered.
Model confidence 58%
04 Reading orientation
38 / 100 academicSerious trade
An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.
Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 70%.