Headlights on the Prairie

"Rebein’s recollections of his youth and early adulthood are straightforward, but his prose is beautiful and full of humor and affection for the sunflower state."—Kansas History

“Robert Rebein knows the cultures of southwestern Kansas—the truck stops, race tracks, and feed lots, the intensity of the “fight” and of competitive sports, the long distance medical help, the appeal of dogs and horses as fellow creatures important to daily life. He also knows the risks, the terrors, the near misses, the uncontrollable weather, animals, and people. Life in southwestern Kansas has always been a gamble worth making, and Rebein—with wit, affection, and big-sky clarity—reminds us why.”—Thomas Fox Averill, Writer-in-residence, Washburn University, editor of What Kansas Means to Me

“Headlights on the Prairie is a marvelous book in the truest sense of the word: meaning, full of marvels. Read it for the ideas alone: they’re that rich, complex and surprising. Or read it for the prose, which is deceptively simple and straightforward. Robert Rebein’s sentences are like men with a job to do. They’re muscular, matter-of-fact, and un-fussy—in short, perfectly suited to his subject matter, which is growing up in, then growing into, the Midwest. As he looks back on what some might regard as the quieter moments that make up a life—a medical scare, middle school fights, stock car races, horse ownership, aging parents, a daughter’s driver’s test—Rebein invests them with power and poetry.”—Jennifer Brice, associate professor of English, Colgate University