John Neihardt, celebrated for his cycle of epic poems about the American West and for BlackElk Speaks, was in his nineties when he wrote this engaging book about growing up in the Midwest. All Is But a Beginning describes the people and events instrumental in shaping his later distinguished career as a poet; historian, and authority on Indians."

One day Roger Welsch ventured to ask his father a delicate personal question: Why am I an only child? His father s answer is one of many examples of the delightful and laughter-inducing ribald tales Welsch has compiled from a lifetime of listening to and sharing the folklore of the Plains. More narrative than simple jokes, and the product of multiple retellings, these coarse tales were even delivered by such prudish sources as Welsch s stern and fearsome German great-aunts. Speaking of cucumbers and sausages in a toast to a newly married couple, the prim and proper women of Welsch s memory...