Wichita

Harvey, FredProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 24K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Wichita by Fred HarveyAuthor: Harvey, Fred,Language: English, Class: F590.3: United States local history: The West. Trans-Mississippi Region. Great Plains, Release Date: Aug 1, 2018

Editor's review

Wichita is a local history document about the American West by Fred Harvey, a work of historical geography covering the Trans-Mississippi West and the Great Plains, released free in electronic form by Project Gutenberg. The value of such a text lies not in literary narrative but in the spatial impressions, townscapes, and slices of social life it preserves from a particular city and region in the early railway-travel era. For readers studying Western development, the rise of towns along railway lines, or the tradition of local-history writing, it is usable primary material. It should be treated as a historical source rather than a general history, with attention to the limitations of perspective imposed by its time of writing and to the promotional tone common in that era. It is suitable as supplementary reading for regional-history topics or for comparison with railway and town histories. The electronic edition makes it easy to search place names and personal names, and suits excerpting and index-style use.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying U.S. Western history and local history who need regional case material
Enthusiasts of town growth in the railway era who want early urban impressions
Learners who need English public-domain historical sources for textual analysis or translation practice
General readers interested in Midwestern U.S. urban history who are willing to read primary documents

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting a complete general history or systematic scholarly argument
Literary readers who prefer novelistic plots and character stories
Readers who find English difficult and need a Chinese translation to assist them

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and opening first to confirm the text's format and date of writing, then decide which chapters to read closely.
Read alongside U.S. railway history or Kansas local-history materials to fill in background.
Use the electronic edition's search function to organize place names, personal names, and institution names into thematic excerpts.
Note the author's observational stance and period biases, and mark questionable statements as you read.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or historical material?

According to Project Gutenberg's classification, it falls under U.S. local history and is a text of a historical-geographical nature, not a work of fiction. It should be read as a historical source, with attention to its descriptions of the city and region rather than to plot development.

Can I read this book if my English is not good?

The text is an English public-domain book written in somewhat old-fashioned formal prose. Readers with weak English will find it very difficult; it is advisable first to read related Chinese-language regional histories as a foundation, or to use it as a parallel text, rather than as an introductory reader.

What kind of reading is the electronic edition suited to?

It suits search-based and excerpt-based reading: use the electronic text to search place names, personal names, and keywords, and organize notes by theme. Reading the whole text straight through is not very cost-effective; selecting chapters according to research questions is more efficient.

Comments

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About the author

Harvey, Fred Author

Fred Harvey is an author about whom very little biographical information is available. Public records do not clearly indicate his nationality, dates of birth and death, or educational background. What can be confirmed is that one work appears under his name, Wichita, and it is the only title held in this collection. Judging from the title, the book is likely centered on the city of Wichita, Kansas, or set against it, and may deal with local history, the character of the city, or people and events associated with the place. Because further bibliographic details and reviews are lacking, it is difficult to assess his writing style with confidence, or to determine whether the book is fiction or nonfiction. Readers wishing to understand Harvey's work can currently begin only with Wichita and the geographical线索 suggested by its title. Until fuller author information becomes available, any further description of his career and influence would lack reliable support and should be treated with caution.