Author Description

This collaborative work is an ode to the forty-sixth state, to its stereotypes and its surprises. Oklahoma is exactly as expected—and not. It is an old place, shaped by millennia of wind and rain and sun. Yet it is still a young and raw and evolving territory, a mosaic that morphed into a state just one hundred years ago. From the Native Americans who roamed the plains with the buffalo to the cowboys who came with the cattle, from the oil barons to the outlaws, the settlers and Sooners, the proud African Americans who believed this was their Paradise Found, and all the others who came from all directions to make a new life in this territory, all together form the very center of the United States. They are depicted here in 350 photographs, most of which are presented in full color. This is a portrait of Oklahoma. It is a portrait of us.