After finishing "A History of the Ozarks: The Ozarkers," Brooks Blevins' magisterial history of the region, I decided to read some of the work of the late Otto Ernest Rayburn. As luck would have it, a new edition of Rayburn's 1941 book "Ozark Country" was released last year by the University of Arkansas Press, complete with an introduction by Blevins.
I've used quotes from Brooks Blevins' book "A History of the Ozarks: The Ozarkers" a lot in recent columns. Rarely have I run across anything that does such a good job explaining a region and its people.
I've used quotes from Brooks Blevins' book "A History of the Ozarks: The Ozarkers" a lot in recent columns. Rarely have I run across anything that does such a good job explaining a region and its people.
Brooks Blevins has been the Noel Boyd Professor of Ozarks Studies in the history department at Missouri State University in Springfield since 2008. But, as always, his roots remain just across the state line.