North Dakota Books

I thought that this was a great book. Thrilling at some points, educational at others, it was an overall great read. Keep up the good work Mr. Mason!

Vine Deloria, Jr., a contemporary Renaissance man who unfortunately left us this past October, 2005, traces his family back to two brothers coming to North America from France. He spends most of the book on his Great Grandfather Saswe (b. 1816), a Sioux holy man and leader, and his Grandfather Tipi Sapa (b. 1853), a Sioux holy man, leader, and Episcopal priest. He also describes his father's work, Vine Deloria, Sr., also an Episcopal priest.

This is an excellent work which reveals the real world of Sioux life -- one which changed radically with the advent of the Europeans. He describes a saga of how his family, with his people, found ways to survive in a new world that was thrust upon them.

Those who like this book should definitely read Deloria's "The World We Used to Live In."

Hyde's chronicle begins with the surrender of the Sioux to the U. S. government, and the beginning of the "noble experiment" of transforming Native Americans into Neo-Europeans (by making them farmers, for example). The book ends with the tragedy of the Wounded Knee massacre, and can be read as an analysis of all the factors leading up to that incident, which revealed the failure of said experiment.

Hyde recounts the many factors which led to the resumption of hostilities between a small minority of Sioux and the U. S. Army. the author clearly has favorite villains on both sides: from religious philanthropists on the East coast, who had never met a live Sioux in his native habitat, to Sitting Bull who went about caching firearms, to the corrupt politicians who replaced relatively knowledgeable Indian agents with inexperienced political cronies. Hyde paints the portrait of all of these actors and more with verve and detail.

Missing from Hyde's account is any in-depth analysis of Sioux culture that would allow us to understand the appeal of the Ghost Dance. Instead, Hyde's account posits that Sioux and white are motivated by the same factors: greed, political infighting, fear, hatred, and hunger. But Hyde's focus on action and decision, his love of detail, and his sardonic style make for gripping and informative reading. Recommended for anyone interested in frontier history or in the fraught relationship between whites and Native Americans.

Mrs. Eastman should be considered a pioneer in more ways than one. She was one of the first educators to teach in the Dakota territory. Mrs. Eastman advocated day schools which allowed the native children to remain with their families (a concept which was strongly discouraged by the church boarding schools of the time), she took the time to learn the D/Lakota language and conversed in it, and she lived within the community (as opposed setting herself against it). Mrs. Eastman worked many years while she was a single person (which was quite unusual). She also reported with accuracy what was really occuring on the reservations (often upsetting those in charge-including government and church officials).

Among many things within this book, one can learn about: what works and does not work when teaching individuals whose first language is not English, the Native Americans of the Dakotas, a Feminist before her time, and the account of The Wounded Knee Massacre from someone who tended the few left alive.

As a first grade teacher, I find this book to be a wonderful, well written, resource book for any classroom or children's library. It provides simple and accurate information in a compassionate, although protectively realistic, easily understood manner. This easy-to-read book provides the reader with an enjoyable and meaningful reading experience.

This collection is a good primer for someone interested in the folklore of the Sioux Indians. They are a fascinating people and these tales hold great interest. There is a charm that accompanies these stories that will delight readers. One comes to understand and appreciate the Sioux love for nature and animals. These legends will inspire and awe readers. Luther Standing Bear does a great job of capturing the oral pulse of these stories. I was enamored of these stories when I read them as a teenager and they still hit the mark all these years later.

As a director of the Ag. experiment station at NDSU, Fargo, ND, Donald Hoag is a horticulturist who has spent a great deal of time studying shrubs and trees in the plains region. Given our extreme climate and soil conditions, this book should be on the bookshelf of anyone who is considering planting a tree, or wanting to identify that bane of a plant in the back yard.

The book is filled with relevant information from cover to cover, including sketches and photographs of plants, leaves and buds. Descriptions of all aspects of trees and shrubs, from disease effects to bark color are described in detail. There is even a section on color, if you want to coordinate your scenery changes by season.

Far from a being strictly a horticultural text, this book will give the everyday Joe the ability to select the proper tree or shrub for their next project either by common name or by species.

This is the best book I've come across on trees and shrubs in our region.

At the time this book was originally written (1830), the Northwest was the upper Missisippi Valley. I originally read this book because the author had lived among the Native American Indians and knew their culture. This was before the true nature of the European White man had become evident to the Indians and the Indians treated the White man as equals. But, in his introduction, even though he blasts other authors for their shallow representation of the Indian, he automatically assumes the Indians are not as good as White people and treats them as such in the book. Frequently though, the Indian looks more honorable than the White man in the ten stories. Despite the author's bias, a picture of the Indian's culture does come through. A good read for Indian and White culture at the time

I had read about the "revenge" factor in this Roth novel and perhaps because I wasn't quite familiar with the principals (on whom this book was supposedly based on), I ignored the negative spin and just enjoyed the story for what it was ... an invaluable lesson for all writers no matter their genre ... when Leo explains to Nathan why he should ignore the ideology and stick to the art, epiphanies (right or wrong) abound ... there was no putting this one down and the reward (for this reader) was all confirming. Whether it was Murray's decency or Nathan's naivety or Ira's iron will, the story flowed with passion start to finish. The fact there are parents who are victims (and/or) martyrs to their children (and/or their cause(s)) is undeniable (so who needs the revenge spin?). What flows from such a starting point is (probably) almost always disaster. Whether Roth is a brute or not in real life is irrelevant (not to forget the other side of the story--that he may be one hell of a decent human being), do yourself a big favor and ignore the revenge spin. Wagner was an anti-semite but much of his music remains hauntingly heavenly. Roth remains an American/World master of modern fiction.

"Me casé con un comunista" es una novela en que Philip Roth explora la temática de la caza de brujas, que tuviera lugar en los Estados Unidos durante la época del senador McCarthy (años 40 y 50). En este contexto, Ira Ringold, protagonista de la obra, es un excombatiente de la II Guerra Mundial que actúa como propagandista de la causa comunista. En consecuencia, esta es una historia de lealtades y de traiciones. Todos los que están con él, lo abandonan en algún momento, salvo Nathan y el hermano de Ira, Murray. Todos dudan, como hicieron los apóstoles con Jesús, y al final todos caen en la cuenta de que Ira era un buen tipo, algo iluso y llevado de sus ideas como todos los ilusos, pero un buen tipo, más allá de lo acertado o errado que hubiese podido estar en sus juicios.
Me parece, no obstante, que para un escritor como Philip Roth, la trama es sólo la excusa para encarar el tema del creador y su obra, la "relación" del creador con su obra. Aquí el narrador, Nathan, cede su sitio al narrador Murray y éste al narrador Ira, etcétera. En el juego de las perspectivas para juzgar la realidad, Roth siempre resulta vencedor, porque en sus fallos no parece haber culpables, aunque los haya. "Me casé con un comunista" es una novela de víctimas, aun cuando se trate de los propios traidores. Lo que me gusta de las novelas de Roth, y de esta en particular, es su especial delicadeza para tratar a sus anta-gonistas. Siempre les concede la cláusula de humanidad que aún estando equivocados, les pertenece, pues en el fondo de lo que se trata aquí es de la dignidad de las personas.
El juego de espejos con que Roth construye su obra es una confirmación de una práctica suya. Yo no diría que es su estilo sino, más que eso, su "arte poética." En cierto modo, Roth es lo contrario de Ellroy pero también lo es de Bellow. Quizá se parezca más a I.B. Singer, aunque su temática es algo más amplia. Y es que a Roth no le interesa tanto el culpable como la culpa, o el castigo como la expiación.
En fin, aun cuando "Me casé..." es posterior a "Contravida," esta última me gusta más porque en ella la manera de explorar la realidad se halla más a la vista. Es más notoria. Y en este sentido actúa mejor como la novela de iniciación de un consumado, en tanto guía para iniciados. "Contravida" es más explícita que "Me casé..." Es más "manual." La realidad es algo más remota porque sirve de resonancia a los protagonistas, al revés de lo que ocurre aquí, en que la cuerda de la historia (el macartismo) vibra para que se despierten las musas.
La recomiendo para lectura y relectura. Es otra de mis candidatas para abolir el olvido.

Roth's subject and style in his later novels has devolved into political/social/personal interrogations of post WW II America; this one is insightful, original, masterfully written, clever, and authoritative. Roth has stated the significant aspect of the novel is 'voice' and this is a perfect example of it. There are fascinating ironies in the book that entwine to develop a multi-layered novel of a variety of Americans caught up in competeting allegiances of the 1940's and 1950's. It is a study in imperfections of the left and right; the confusion of a nation whose citizens grasp after meaning whether through the studies of history; the search for financial security, the fear of the 'red scare,' the ruts that unlearned abstract thinking can lead to as well as the dangers of ideologies when championed by people with personal, unconscious agendas. Roth has the ability to write a finessed novel like Nabokov if he chose to. Thankfully, he has used his talents to create works of importance that are more than literary. Additionally, I listen to about 12-15 audiobooks a year, and Ron Silver, the actor's rendering of the New York City accent is subtle, true and utterly mesmerizing.

The life of Ira Ringold, a Communist activist-cum-radio star who was betrayed to the blacklist by his actress wife, is reflected upon by the last two people alive who knew him--his brother Murray, a former English teacher, and Nathan Zuckerman, who grew up idealizing him. The result is a complex and fascinating novel about the nature of human passion, betrayal, and much more.

Ira emerges as a tremendously angry and violent figure who latches on to Communism as a means of civilizing himself. Young Nathan is initially swept along by the purity of Ira's fervor, but ultimately gains perspective as he matures and broadens intellectually while Ira remains mired in a pure belief in Communist doctrine that blinds him to all its faults. Murray tries to act as the voice of reason to shield Ira from his own impusivity and rage. All of this goes on again the backdrop of the Hollywood blacklist and the vicious social mercanaries of the elite. Recommended.

It's amazing that Roth continues to produce such first rate novels. This sad story about the seductions of communism in the 40's and 50's, and the hysterical reactions of the paranoid right, is an excellent introduction to the craziness of the HUAC manipulations of public fears (which has so many applications to todays political scene) while telling a story of how the age impacts the lives of one group caught up in it.
Yet the flaws of the characters are fully developed and so that there is no hint of mere propagandizing.

Roth is a national treasure.

This is my first Moloney read and I am impressed .

The story starts out so relaxing in a fictional town of Goodlands North Dakota . A small town that most would say is a nice place to farm and raise a family but then Goodlands hasn't had any rain for 4 yrs and the farmers are concerned and then Tom (a drifter ) comes to town and his first stop is a bar where he meets these guys and makes a $50 wager with them that he can make it rain ............

In away the author brings Tom to life in the novel and with his ways of trying to congure up the rain it is so relaxing like you are right there on that field next to him and feel the presence of the rain just beyond grasp , so real you can almost smell the rain and the fresh air .

A very nice relaxing read and I give this author and the plot of the story 5* . I will read more by Moloney .

I originally read this book when it was first published years ago. I never forgot it and, when I ran across a copy recently, grabbed it up to visit once again.

Unfortunately, like many fond memories revisited, this book failed to live up to my recollection. The story stayed in my mind for years because of the originality of its premise, but the writing quality isn't as spectacular as I recall. Either that, or my taste has been educated and elevated over the last several years.

Still, it's a decent workmanlike genre novel: a romantic thriller with supernatural overtones, efficiently plotted and relatively well-executed for its kind. Karen the banker and Tom the rainmaker are sympathetic characters, if somewhat underdeveloped. The other town residents barely rise above two-dimensionality but serve their purpose in advancing the story. The loose ends, with one glaring exception, tie up neatly. (The "town secret" is the one gaping hole in the plot never resolved to my satisfaction.)

If you're looking for great literature, read To Kill A Mockingbird. If you want an enjoyable way to give your brain a rest and kill a few hours, read this.

Once I started reading this book it had me well within its grasp. I could not put it down. There are a few places where it drags and the author goes on tangents (I blame the editor, not the author), but the story itself is gripping.

With a better editor, this author could definitely give Stephen King a run for his money.

I really was interested in this book from the get go. It has a very interesting and unusual plot. I found myself skimming pages toward the last third of the book only because I was beginning to find the writing slow and more "filler" than anything. As good as the story started out, my interest dwindled toward the last part of the book. I think the "main" characters, the rainmaker and Karen, should have been explored further, as well as the entity. It just never seemed to quite cross the line from interesting to gripping.

Canadian writer Susie Moloney's second novel is served ala king - Stephen that is. A Dry Spell is macabre, sometimes far-fetched, and ultimately chilling.

We learn straightaway that Goodlands, North Dakota, the fictional setting for this preternatural epic, is not living up to its name. Despite its motto "A Good Little Town," there's nothing good going on in Goodlands.

A four-year drought has parched the earth, and turned once sanguine farm families suspicious. They're losing their land to foreclosure; their hopes have turned to dust. Despite the Farmer's Almanack prediction for a "wet, cool spring" and a wet August, it rains everywhere but on the wheat and barley fields of Goodlands.

In addition, there are some bizarre happenings taking place : cement driveways rupture; a gigantic oak falls through a plate glass window; water tank spigots vanish as precious liquid is lost.

Banker Karen Grange has been banished to Goodlands for past infractions (a tendency to max out credit cards in an accumulation of the unwanted and unworn). As manger of Commercial Farm Credit it is her unhappy task to inform families that they are losing their homes and, if the drought continues, she may lose the bank. With "some invisible umbrella hovering over Goodlands, and no scientific explanation for it," Karen summons a rainmaker.

Tom Keatley, the tall, long-haired rain doctor uses no incantations or magic rituals. With his emphatically square jaw and narrowed eyes he summons cumulus clouds by sheer dint of will and an occasional shot of Wild Turkey. But there was something wrong with Goodlands, and he knew it. There was "that hum that ran underneath the earth, the incredible, persistent dryness of the place, the way the sky wouldn't open for him...."

Much of what is wrong in Goodlands roils within Vida Whalley, youngest daughter of a disreputable clan. "Whalleys had been plaguing the town, drinking and fighting, stealing and making trouble for years." Directed by an inner voice Vida makes more than trouble.

As events become nightmarish, friends turn on friends and a melee ensues at the local caf?. Sheriff Henry Barker, who normally only chases dogs and breaks up fights, has his work cut out for him. Add to the mix Carl Simpson, a once reasonable man, who blames the drought on government men hiding in silos, and you have a town on the brink of disaster.

Sometimes it is slow going to reach this point, as descriptions of dryness and hoped for respite tend to be repetitious. It seems a bit pat for both Karen and Tom to be the results of deprived childhoods.

Nonetheless, Susie Moloney has penned a harrowing tale in which she recreates the classic struggle between good and evil. Which prevails? Chiller/thriller fans will welcome A Dry Spell.

- Gail Cooke