North Dakota Books

With _Reflections on the Academic Life in North Dakota_, Walter Ellis has written a book that all men will want to read and that all women should read. Written from Ellis' own male perspective, _Reflections_ traces the decline and fall of a romantic relationship between two people in the academic profession that seemed to hold great promise, but which really never had a chance. At times hilarious, but ultimately tragic, Reflections is a skillful blend of humor and heartache, written in an engrossing style that is easy to read and sprinkled with clever, yet realistic, dialogue and the wry musings of a very intelligent author.

The story is about David London, a forty-nine year old university history professor, and Tracey Gillespie, his much younger girlfriend, a beautiful graduate student who studies archaeology at another university. From the opening chapters it is clear that the two have a volatile relationship, one which alternates between passionate love-making and trivial disagreements that have a way of simmering until they boil over into curse-laden tirades. David thinks he goes the extra mile to accommodate Tracey's every wish and need. But Tracey thinks that David can do nothing right, is insensitive to her feelings and, worse still, can't even feed her cats properly! Yet some thing or things keeps them together-the fulfillment of his fantasies of a young and dazzlingly beautiful student, her emotionally scarred need for the wisdom, stability, and security of the older professor (or father) type?

Something's got to give and the two decide to take a trip together in a tour group to the Middle East to see and experience the wonders of ancient Israel and Jordan. Surely this will solve all their problems-of course not-but it is always the two people in the relationship who need to see this the most who do not see this. The tour might just as well have been on a rollercoaster track as on the dirt roads of Petra as the trip makes things only worse for the ill-suited lovers. Further complicating matters are the other members of the tour group, a motley crew who range from the saintly Alexandra, an older woman to whom David increasingly finds himself drawn for comfort and wisdom, to the down to earth Joel and his wife, Julie, a thirty-something couple who quickly become David's drinking buddies, to the wretched Berta, a loud, bossy, bloated epitome of the ugly American tourist, to the competent, if somewhat tacky, Yuri, the Israeli tour guide who must cater to the varied and often unreasonable demands of the members of the tour group. These supporting characters are not just window dressing or, worse still, "types," but fully developed human beings who are also skillfully weaved into the plot as essential players in this tragic-comedy.

Ellis doesn't tell us what should be in a relationship, just what all too often is (for many of us, at any rate). David and Tracey are two people, intellectually and emotionally incompatible, yet drawn to each other by physical passion and their own fantasies of what they think they want out of a relationship and out of life, fantasies that end up smashed by the steel hammer of reality. But as the song says, "you can't always get what you want, but if you try some time, you just might find, you'll get what you need." For if there is any lesson in Ellis' tale, it comes from the character of Alexandra, who had a long, stable relationship with a husband who was compatible with her in a real way, and not just some figment of her fantasies. One can only hope that the same readers who mutter to themselves, "how true, how true," or, "been there, done that," when reading Ellis' book (and I'm sure there will be many, for this reviewer is among them) also take the lesson to heart and break the cycle of their own failed relationships. Even if they do not, though, at least readers of Walter Ellis' _Reflections on the Academic Life in North Dakota_ will have had a few laughs, a little truth in art, and a darned good read.

The Roadside History of South Dakota is an entertaining, well-written book. At first I read this book as an armchair traveler and enjoyed anecdotes that gave the flavor and essence of South Dakota. Then I drove through the state. The book brought to life the places we passed on the way, and I was able to entertain my children with stories of the people who lived there. Driving roads like I90 became a historical and cultural experience. I am looking forward to reading other books in the Roadside History series.

This book is somewhat more sophisticated than the reading level ages 4-8.There is some very detailed information that I've never seen anywhere else.My son wasn't interested in this book, but after we read it, he agreed-it was excellent.

Sarah Wakefield, being an educated doctor's wife in 1862, had a lot more than many of the people who lived through the 1862 Uprising/Conflict, she was able to relate in a logical way what happened to her, without anger. She tells of the way she and her children were taken care of by Chaska and his family. How their lives were spared because of the Dakota family. Her words show another side of the story, how whites were saved by the Dakota. When many were saying they had been abused, Sarah told of care. When Chaska was hanged on 26th December she was understandably distressed, here was her saviour, who she had promised would be spared as she was, dead, through a quirk of fate. In 1997, I and another woman working on a Native American Committee to honor the dead of the conflict in Minnesota wrote to President Clinton asking for a pardon for Chaska, on Sarah Wakefield's behalf. Chaska's name should be cleared. It has been 136 years and he is still known as a man who abused women and children during a six week war. Read this story and if you feel the same way, please write to the President as well. Chaska saved Sarah's life, his name should at least be cleared of wrongdoing.Thank you.

The story of a young Plains Indian who traveled to Europe in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Rodeo, this book is extraordinary and moving. The story is fun, but it is the illustrations that bring this book to the level of genuine art: the pictures are completely magical. This book transformed my day after reading it: I felt renewed by it's beauty and innocence.

My Autistic son enjoyed hearing a chapter read out of this every night and could easily remember what had happened before. It's a great way to learn about the history of our United States.

An excellent overview of South Dakota rock art by a noted expert in the field. I had particular interest in the Cave Hills area, just south of where I live in North Dakota.

Book review by Dr. Roland M. Wagner, San Jose State University, San Jose, California

Ruth Weil Kusler's life-long journey in the healing arts began with her mother, Katharina Fischer, who was a midwife and healer in Neu Glückstal, Odessa district. Sensing that her daughter Ruth also had the gift of "tender hands," the instinctive ability to seek out aches and pains and to soothe them away with her fingers, Katharina passed on the ancient healing methods of prayer, massage, and herbal remedies to her daughter. As I write these words Ruth is approaching her 90th year, and she has spent most of her life carrying on her mother's practice, caring for the sick near Beulah, North Dakota. Her well-earned reputation continues to draw people seeking her advice and treatment.

A lifetime's worth of experience in the healing arts has been condensed into this small booklet (69 pages). The many remedies for the aches and pains of daily life are valuable in and of themselves, but the book also has special interest because of its information on the German folk-healing tradition known as "Braucherei." Ruth's practice is an intriguing case study of how these old traditions have continued to evolve and to adapt to changing circumstances by assimilating other alternative healing traditions.

Ruth's story may strike a note of familiarity to many people who are aware of folk healing traditions around the world. Many are aware, for example, that Mexican-Americans have a similar form of healing known as "curanderismo," which involves the use prayers, blessed candles and oils, holy water, and herbal remedies. Likewise, "santeria," a healing religion born of African traditions, still flourishes throughout the Caribbean. It is less commonly recognized that similar beliefs and practices exist in European folk cultures as well. In modern technological medicine the spiritual and physical worlds are rigidly separated, but in folk medicine these dimensions of experience are inextricably linked.

Braucherei is an ancient tradition of folk-healing practiced by German speaking peoples, with roots extending back into pre-Christian times. It builds upon a bedrock of beliefs and practices that are similar in folk societies throughout most of the world (note, for example, the etymological similarity to the word "brujeria" in Spanish). During the Middle Ages the ancient Germanic healing lore combined with Christianity, an uneasy amalgamation that was always subject to suspicion and scrutiny by Christian clergy. As Ruth notes, the Braucherei chants "worried the local ministers," and some believed that the healing procedures were "witchcraft."

Folk healing traditions, such as Braucherei, should not be dismissed as mere superstition, or as a static body of folklore that has been passed down unchanged from one generation to the next. Certainly there are elements of "sympathetic magic" involved in the ritualism, as commonly described by anthropologists, but the practices also build upon wisdom about holistic medicine accumulated by generations of sharp-eyed pragmatic observers. Braucherei has been a living tradition, and the practice has continued to evolve over time, adopting and absorbing methods and remedies and adjusting to current belief systems.

Ruth's practice of Braucherei, as described in her book, demonstrates this pragmatic openness to the adoption of new healing methods. She cites specific prayers for certain ailments, which recalls the more traditional aspects of Braucherei, but these prayers are not emphasized as a major aspect of her practice as described in this book. Most of her remedies involve the use of well-known healing herbs, such as garlic or chamomile. It is also notable that many non-traditional products are utilized, such as "Knorr's Genuine Hein Fong Essence (green drops)," "Dr. Forni's Alpen-Kreuter," "Smith's Rosebud Salve,"Aspirin tablets," "Clorox bleach," "Epsom salts," "Niacin," and "Vitamin C." Fruits juices are a prominent ingredient in the remedies, but whiskey and Schnapps as well. Ruth's practice of massage has been expanded over the years by the study of bone-setting and reflexology (derived from Oriental folk-medicine, a practice more commonly known as accupressure, described by Ruth as "massaging points on the palms of hands and soles of feet to strengthen and stimulate glands and organ systems"). Interestingly, Ruth notes that a family member, a grand-nephew, is studying at the Palmer School of Chiropractic, which she regards as a continuation of the family healing tradition. At a broader level, Ruth's story is not just of her own practice, but also of the adaptations and modifications in folk healing traditions throughout the world.

Book review by by Edna Boardman, Bismarck, North Dakota

This book is unusual in its setting--the German Russian villages of the Beresan District (Rastatt, Waterloo, Speyer, Laudau, Katherinental, Karlsruhe, Sulz, Johannistal, Rohrbach, and Worms) in the Ukraine. It is a collection of short stories, more anecdotes, that reveal the personalities and lives of the people of these villages in the late 1920s, when communism had taken over but had loosed its grip a bit for the period when the New Economic Policy held sway.

In the first part, Through the German Colonies of the Beresan District, Bachmann, a teacher and cultural researcher, tells of making a tour via assorted horse carts through these villages to collect the texts and melodies of folk songs. Bachmann is accompanied by Victor Schirmunki, a professor interested in recording differences in German dialect. The men choose a most inopportune season, harvest time, but learn what they can. They stay with the teachers in each village, then contact whoever has information about songs and language. The most intriguing thing about the songs is the popularity, even competitiveness, of singing among teenage males.

In the second part, Colonist Tales, Bachmann¹s good humor and insights into the lives of the people (he came from among them) bring into focus a time most American and Canadian German Russians know little about. The terrible wars and destruction of the Bolshevik revolution and the famine of the early 1920s are over, and kulaks live in huts on their former estates.

Education has been secularized, and communists demand constant attendance at meetings. But the harvest is coming in, a measure of normalcy has returned and life goes on.

Introductory material by Joseph Schnurr and an epilogue by Roland Wagner put Bachmann¹s life and the stories themselves into context. The stories, which were originally written in German, appear to have had at least some intent to show communist leaders that the communist ideology was taking root satisfactorily and people were starting to cooperate with the new system. The introduction and epilogue also tell about the years that followed, when Stalin, determined to enforce collectivization, again terribly disrupted the lives of these people. Extensive footnotes document sources and explain words and matters within the stories that may be confusing to readers. The stories are entertaining, but the scholarly material is not easy reading. Scholars and publishers within the German Russian community need to be congratulated and supported as they discover and make available this material. Readers will be well informed about an important but little-understood period whether they read all of the book or just the stories.

Dakota Winters are known all over the world as a real test of man hood.
Hammer's admiration of Mark Twain is evident in this novel about coming of age in the roaring twenties. This book captured my thoughts and I know that it is an autobiography of our area and that is the magic of an author. There is none of the usual references to literature nor an abundance of adjectives and adverbs. He says his daughter challenged him to write this book and my thoughts are that anyone who reads this story of Buck Farley owes her a debt of grattitude.