Buxton Books is proud to be the bookseller for Charleston Library Society as they welcome Dr. Mark Wagner for an an author talk celebrating his latest book, Native Links. For tickets and more information, please click here.
Oftentimes the land we interact with daily has more history than we realize – from urban environments and greenspaces to the places we call home. And for some, home is a fairway, stretching greens and bunkers that abound. Tom Coyne gave us a taste last Fall of walking the greens of America’s golf courses, and this year we are honored to host author, golf historian, and founding director of the Binienda Center for Civic Engagement at Worcester State University, Mark Wagner to learn the history and people behind these beautiful lands. In his most recent publication, Native Links, Wagner unveils the often-overlooked history of the golf courses we enjoy, and their rich connections to the First Peoples who inhabited them, long before par fours. Join us for an introspective on contemporary relationships to the historic value of land – an evening not to be missed by any golf goer or connoisseur alike.
About Native Links:
Native Links: The Surprising History of Our First People in Golf is an entertaining and insightful narrative that makes the case that, as with the DNA of the country's history, Indigenous history is a leading strand and that is true for golf as well.
This book gathers gripping stories and long-lasting oral histories about our First People. The story begins with Oscar Smith Bunn, A Shinnecock Montauk Native who played in the 1896 and 1899 U.S. Opens. Through Orville Moody's triumph in the 69th U.S. Open, to a new generation of players that includes Notah Begay lll and Gabby Lemieux, Native Links makes an engaging case that you cannot tell the story of golf in this country without including our First People.
And, while many in the golf industry are in a ‘hold’ pattern, even after the surge in outdoor activity during covid, according to Golfweek, “there is one group of builders as bullish as ever on course construction: Native Americans.” With Fee to Trust programs, in successful advocacy, litigation, and lawsuits, with #Land Back, with the revenues from gaming, many tribes have built museums, archives, government centers and—surprise—golf courses. The result is a new generation who harken back to a long history of players and teachers for whom the ancient stick-and-ball game has been another way of finding home.
Finding the elders or those who knew the elders, and meeting a new generation of Native golfers, the author writes, “I would be smudged, taken for a rat, taught (Arnold Palmer’s) perfect grip, and lose matches to Rod Curl and Steve McDonald among others. Still, all I wanted to do was find a home in these shared stories.” This history is indispensable for all who want to know the whole story.
About Dr. Mark Wagner:
Born in Paterson, New Jersey, Dr. Mark Wagner is the fourth child of eight born to Jack and Pat (Coyle) Wagner. A decorated athlete and educator, Mark has published extensively on golf course architecture and history. In 2021, as he explored the history of Native-owned golf courses, Mark began to realize there were many firsts among our First Peoples in golf, a game he has loved since his childhood outings in the Adirondacks with his family. The result is Native Links, a travelogue and oral history about and by the Indigenous people who have shaped and played the game. Mark lives with his partner Monica Elefterion on a small farm in Dudley, Massachusetts, where they raised their son Myles and fostered Cody and Jared.