"What infinite hives of population and laboratories of industry have been electrified and set in motion!" (Section I, The Threshold, pg. 2.)

"Acquring learning in the rural Midwest was llike an elaborate egg-hunt - but the rules were fair; there were always eggs if you hunted long and hard enough" (Section I, The Threshold, pg. 12.)

"In 1870 the day of the Indian as wild animal was by no means over" (Section I, The Threshold, pg. 131.)

"To approach a strange culture and a strange people without prejudice, suspicion, condescension, or fear is common enough among students now; it was not too common in 1870 , and it made his councils with the Shivwits an unqualified success" (Section I, The Threshold, pg. 131.)

"Losing one's right arm is a misfortune; to some it would be a disaster, to others an excuse. It affected Wes Powell's life about as much as a stone fallen into a...