I do love me some Edna Ferber. The thing about her books is that they always read like big Technicolor epic movies, way before such a thing existed. They certainly didn’t in 1929, when this was published. But so many have been turned into such, like this book (twice, first time winning one of the first Best Picture Academy Awards), Show Boat, Giant, and Saratoga Trunk, to name a few.
So our hero, Yancy Cravat, is a hot bull-headed force of nature. Think Clark Gable in his prime. He is an eloquent lawyer, a newspaper publisher, and an ace shot. What is not to like? He swans into 1880s Wichita Kansas, and sweeps lovely Sabra Venable, daughter of well-bred Southern aristocracy, off her feet. And in no time, she is married against her family’s will, the Oklahoma Land Rush is on, and they are looking for their own bit of land. But it turns out to not happen, because Yancy, ever the gentleman, unknowingly allows the quick-witted and duplicitous Dixie Lee to snatch the property away from him.
But the worst sin Yancy commits in Sabra’s eyes is that he considers the indigenous people of Oklahoma as admirable and worthy of full citizenship, and what’s more, has a newspaper to use as a bully pulpit. Sabra has the opposite view, and throws herself instead into civic improvements of the newborn Osage, Oklahoma. She ends up taking over the paper when Yancy, as is his wont, pulls a runner for awhile. But when he comes back, it’s his voice again. And Dixie pits herself against Sabra when she returns to Osage in full glory as the madam of the town’s best whorehouse. Drama galore!
Considering the publishing date of this book, I would imagine that a considerable portion of the readers were absolutely on Sabra’s side, who is portrayed as hardworking and trying her level best to do what’s right.. But Ferber definitely wasn’t.