Mackinlay kantor biography of george
MacKinlay Kantor: The Tangled Past of a Once-Famous Author (from Webster City)
[Editor’s note: This story was originally published in The IOWA SOURCE and is reprinted with the permission of the author.]
In 1961, the American writer MacKinlay Kantor (1904-1977) published a book about Iowa history called Spirit Lake. At nearly 1,000 pages, it feels gargantuan in length. It took years to research and no doubt equal effort to write. Given its narrative intricacy, some people find it a challenge to read.
Kantor was born in 1904 and grew up in Webster City, Iowa, about 130 miles southeast of Lake Okoboji and the city of Spirit Lake. As a child, he (like many of us) was told the story of what is commonly known as the Spirit Lake Massacre. In 1857, sparsely situated homes of Euro-American settlers were attacked by Native Americans (Santee Sioux in origin). At least 35 area settlers were killed and four women were taken as captives. Over the years, the inherited oral account of wh Mackinlay kantor biography of george harrison.