Winner of the Missouri History Book Award, from the State Historical Society of Missouri
Winner of the Arkansiana Award, from the Arkansas Library Association

The Ozarks reflect the epic tableau of the American people-the native Osage and would-be colonial conquerors, the determined settlers and on-the-make speculators, the hardscrabble farmers and visionary entrepreneurs. Brooks Blevins begins his three-volume history of the region and its inhabitants in deep prehistory, charting how the highlands came to exist. From there he turns to the political and economic motivations behind the eagerness of many peoples to possess the Ozarks. Blevins places these early proto-Ozarkers within the context of the economic, social, and political forces that drove American history. But he also tells the colorful human stories that fill the region’s storied past-and contribute to the powerful myths and misunderstandings that even today distort our views of the Ozarks’ places and people.

A monumental history in the grand tradition, A History of the Ozarks, Volume 1: The Old Ozarks is essential reading for anyone who cares about the highland heart of America.