1889: The Boomer Movement, the Land Run, and Early Oklahoma City
History / University of Oklahoma Press, 2018
*2019 Non-Fiction Finalist, Oklahoma Book Awards
1889 chronicles central Oklahoma's uphill battle to attain territorial status and urban pioneering in what became Oklahoma City. Michael frames his story within the larger history of Old Oklahoma where displaced tribes and freedmen, wealthy cattlemen, townsite developers, and prospective homesteaders faced off in disputes, sometimes peaceful but often not, over the federal government’s public lands policies. Oklahoma’s story is profoundly American, and it reveals the region as a crucible of competing interests and visions of the future with deep roots in U.S. history.
What readers and reviewers have to say…
I have just finished the wonderful book “1889” by Michael Hightower (published 2018). It comprehensively tells our city’s origin story from 1866 through 1890 in a way that turned the mythical into something very real and accessible. Highly recommended for any resident of OKC. David Holt, Mayor of Oklahoma City, Instagram post, July 10, 2021
1889 is a much-needed contribution to the history of Oklahoma, the American West, and Gilded Age America. Michael J. Hightower offers the best and most complete coverage of the Boomer movement that I have read. Sterling Evans, editor of Farming across Borders: A Transnational History of the North American West
This book is the best available about the opening of the Unassigned Lands of Oklahoma. Michael Hightower incorporates diverse sources to provide a coherent story, often challenging prior histories and enriching all… As one who has written on Oklahoma history for more than forty years, I wish I had written this book. Western Historical Quarterly. Reviewed by Alvin O. Turner, Emeritus, East Central Oklahoma University
Hightower’s analysis of how Oklahoma’s foundation story symbolized Gilded Age American politics is enmeshed in a fascinating narrative of frontier settlement life. His outstanding storytelling ability generates an entertaining yet thought-provoking book. Great Plains Quarterly. Reviewed by Julie Hufstetler, Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Hightower uses the oral histories well and allows people’s voices to provide additional rich detail to newspaper accounts and government reports. In sum, this lively book will work well in undergraduate and graduate classes, both in terms of providing background about early Oklahoma history and the Gilded Age more broadly, but also as a way for students to think about how to use oral histories in their own projects. Oral History Assn. Reviewed by Evan C. Rothera, University of Arkansas at Fort Smith