14 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2017
By Renae Blum
Nebraska became a state on March
1, 1867, and this year will celebrate its
sesquicentennial. In honor of this milestone,
the Omaha World-Herald has come out with
a new book, "Nebraska: 150 Years Told
Through 93 Counties," by World-Herald
reporter and editor David Hendee. This
handsome coffee table publication illustrates our state's story
through an appealing mixture of words and images, going
county by county, starting with Adams and ending with
York. Nebraska's counties are its "building blocks," Hendee
writes, and deserve our particular attention as a unique way
of understanding where we live and where we came from.
The first thing you notice upon opening these pages are
the photographs. Colorful and dramatic, they bring life to
events, people and places that the reader may not be aware
of. Equally stunning is Hendee's reporting. He devotes equal
attention and journalistic skill to every county, digging into the
facts behind famous legends and well-known stories, people
and places. You're certain to come away surprised by what
you've learned – for example, that there's a tree in Ponca State
Park that was a seedling in 1644, making it two centuries
older than Nebraska. This dive into storytelling through words
and images makes
for an engaging,
rewarding read.
You can order
a copy online at
OWHstore.com or
by phone at 402-
444-1014. It also
is available in The
World-Herald's
lobby and at local
bookstores. ■
A 150-Year Story
