Relates how an English teacher, a fan of Willa Cather, searches for Cather’s past in the physical environment, the Nebraska prairie, which formed her as a person and an author. Shows how this search led the teacher to examine her own past.

Reviews six books: City on a Hill: Testing the American Dream at City College, by James Traub; The Writer’s Presence, ed. by Donald McQuade and Robert Atwan; The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School, by Neil Postman; From Community to College: Reading and Writing across Diverse Contexts, by Jeff Sommers and Cynthia Lewiecki-Wilson; Writing Permitted in Designated Areas Only, by Linda Brodkey; Juxtapositions, by William Vesterman.