It's Not the End of the Earth, But You Can See It from Here: Tales of the Great Plains

In this rather slight collection of monologues, stories and essays, Welsch--a regular on CBS's Charles Kuralt show, a columnist and collector of Great Plains lore--celebrates small-town America's leisurely pace, human scale and the ordinary man or woman who ``moves mankind and shapes destiny.'' Among these folk are CeCe, the irreverent waitress; a slowpoke auto-body repairman named Lunchbox; old-timers; hard drinkers; the banjo- and fiddle-playing Pankras family. There's a scathing sketch of a white supremacist proud of ``his right as a modern American not to know.'' Other pieces deal with Amerindian wisdom, Gypsies, ice fishing, Welsch's German-Czech wedding. In one story, a geezer with a suspended driver's license drives a tractor, then a mule to a tavern. Such skits, while mildly amusing, seem closer to overheard bar conversations than to ``folk literature,'' as Welsch ( Catfish at the Pump ) claims this olio to be. Author tour. (May)