About the author: Richard Edwards is director of the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He has written twelve books and numerous articles and has spent a lifetime working in Academia. Edwards received his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University and also served as chair of the Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Image description: The cover illustration displays a scene of an old town, there is no asphalt road yet, and there are some buildings on each side of the gravel/dirt road. The sky is blue with some clouds. The title, subtitle, and author’s name are printed in that sky.