The cross-timbers region is where the hardwood forest merges with the Great Plains. In this band running down the middle of the United States, flora and fauna of both areas can be found in surprising proximity.

  Only a few feet from tall blue stem grass are members of the orchid family. Dark oak trees with mossy bark flourish over prickly pear. Unlike that abrupt change where the last of the trees disappear as the mountains rise beyond where things will grow, the cross-timbers is often mile upon mile of alternating woodland and grassland terrain.

  But the region is not limited to these natural phenomena. Throughout history the cultural development of any such area will reflect both environments. In Oklahoma the mixture is peculiarly rich in that Native Americans from the wetlands of Florida were forcibly relocated to the eastern parts of the state while native tribes of the northern plains were forced southward by the destruction of the buffalo herds which had sustained them. Black slaves, now freed, found their way westward in hopes of finding freedom to build for themselves a place in the sun.

  Then, at the opening of the twentieth century, a European-based culture with its newly created upheavals of steel-age technology literally comes thundering down the plains. In the last third of the century, Asians began to form substantial communities in the urban areas and Mexicans and Mexican-Americans became an increasing factor in the work force. Both groups have brought new cultural challenges to enhance the already complex society.

  This publication focuses, not on each group, but on the relatedness of these groups, one to the other. A full range of academic disciplines explores the complex formation of the separate yet interrelated units in the region. At times there is the hostility of competitive forces whether in nature where the protective shelter of the smaller creatures is destroyed by wanton herds, where exotic plants crowd out the native species, or in human culture where the remains of traditions struggle against the overwhelming odds of modern life. At times there is pain, suffering and the loss of that which is good, at other times there is a harmonious balance that causes rejoicing even among the most cynical.