Here Today: Oklahoma's Ghost Towns, Vanishing Towns, and Towns Persisting against the Odds

The history of Oklahoma runs through the thousands of towns that sprang up in the wake of statehood and even before then--readable in the traces of bygone days, if you know what to look for.In Here Today, Jeffrey B. Schmidt conducts readers, armchair travelers and adventurers alike, through places that tell Oklahoma’s story: towns all but disappeared, waning, or persisting despite the odds.Part travelogue, part field guide, part history, the book--replete with photos, maps, and GPS coordinates--documents the rise and fall of one hundred of these towns, from the arrival of pioneers and settlers to the rise of buildings and businesses to the decline that came with natural disasters, manmade crises, and cultural change. Schmidt provides an enlightening look at what has made these towns work--the role of roads and railways, public schools and churches, community building and commerce, and, perhaps most significant, the official recognition that a post office conferred.He notes the oil stri