A “fictional biography” of John Cozad, by Mari Sandoz. Cozad, Nebraska is a little town just north of I80 and right on the 100th meridian. John Cozad was a very successful gambler, who used his winnings to found the town, promote the area, and build a hotel. When the Cozad family ran into trouble with local ranchers, they changed their names and moved away; one son adopted the name “Robert Henri” (pronounced “henRYE” by the locals) and became a famous painter and founder of the “Ashcan School”. Sandoz takes the minimal information known about the Cozads – they spent a good fraction of their lives trying to hide their identity, after all – and spins it into a fascinating historical novel. For a small town, a lot happened in and around this area. Conflict between the neighboring towns of Plum Creek and Cozad is instrumental to the book; events include the Plum Creek Massacre, the Plum Creek Raid, the lynching and burning of settlers Luther Mitchell and A.W. Ketchum by cowboys of the Olive Ranch, and the great locust storm of 1875. (If you go looking for the town of Plum Creek, note that - perhaps because of the notoriety - it’s now Lexington, Nebraska. Cozad is still Cozad). An easy, entertaining, and instructive read. ( )