North Dakota Books

I'll keep it simple: In the famous words of the comic book trader fron The Simpsons, "Worst book ever". Tom is a dolt.

If the purpose of regional studies is to arrive at an understanding of the character of the people of an area, and how that character is reflected in the material constructions of those people, then Isern has it nailed. Among the fascinating range of issues pertaining to Dakota culture that he discusses is how the creative/artistic impulse of a people is sometimes found in the mundane.
For many Dakotans, whose lives are shaped by a pioneer inheritance, whose forebear's lives were hard and economic existence precarious, 'art for art sake' just doesn't seem right. The inherent desire for artistic expression sometimes found, and finds, its outlet in the practical, such as in the design and construction of barns, calf feeders or windmills.
For many Dakotans, huge roadside monuments, like the world's biggest buffalo, pheasant, dairy cow, etc., would be hard to appreciate if they were 'merely' artistic expressions. They would probably be seen by most of us as monuments to someone's ego. But done for a bigger purpose, such as for the benefit of the artist/creator's community, it is much easier to appreciate. But that's this Dakotan's view.
Most interesting of all is Isern's reflection on the desire of many here to create a mythology of our own. Hence the tales of the Welsh among the Mandan, or the Vikings along the James River, as well as our desire to believe these tales. (They're called tales only because they haven't been proven. Yet.)
In the end, a study of regional culture tells us something about what is intrinsic to the whole of humanity. It's rare to come upon a regional study that is genuinely wide ranging. Rarer still to come upon one that is free of the pedantic stuffiness that is found in so many other regional studies. For locals, this is an 'ah-hah' book. Isern's got us down cold. And coming from the Dakotas, that's saying something.

Off the Beaten Path-rather a so-so account of "what to see/do" in the Dakotas. I personally like the Moon Travel Series better as the format is easier to read and more consistent.

Great source for additional possibilities when visiting the magical Dakotas. However, restaurants and lodging lean heavily to those who have plenty of money in their purse/wallet. For most of us, I would research these areas further. But it is outstanding for many possibilities to make a wonderful trip even better. Just don't expect it to cover much roadfood, wacky attractions or budget motels. VERY worthwhile still.

Who likes being adopted nobody does especially Tall bear when his kola White hawk abanded him at a butte that had a eagles nest on a little tree.His kola who lied to the village that Tall bear was killed by the eagles.

I like this book because it reminds me of two buddies in my class.The part I dont like is when Tall bear kola abandens him at the butte.My opinion about this book is that its a good book it talks about friendship. I'll recomend this book to anybody who likes reading books by the athur PAUL GOBLE.And to people who likes reading novals from Tomie Depola.

This is another of the dozens upon dozens of small collections of poetry I have collected over the years. Falling Leaves is a collection of 34 poems by Corbin A. Waldron. Waldron was a native of North Dakota and was in fact was name Poet Laureate of North Dakota by the state legislature in 1957.

During his life Waldron, who was known as "Dakota Cal" wrote several books of poetry, with Lines and Lyrics from Dakota being his best known work.

Now I love the state of North Dakota, love it's almost frightening wildness and its wonderful history. Were it not for its horrible winters I might quite well want to live there. To many Corbin Waldron captures this almost sacred spirit, the loneliness, wildness and isolation of this wonderful state. That being said, I must admit that Waldron is not my favorite poet. It is not that it is bad poetry; it is just that it has a certain amateurish ring to it that for some reason annoys me. I know of any number of armature poets that are much better. I have always suspected that part of his fame is that he was quite an influential lawyer in that state and was quite well liked; or so I am told.

There are certain pieces which I feel are quite good such as Monument to Sitting Bull and Missouri Mecca are certainly good by most standards, but for the most part, his work simply is not my cup of tea. I suspect that being a native of the Dakotas would make a difference here, and poetry, above so many other things, is certainly a matter of taste.

For a regional writer, I suppose Waldron's work is okay, it is just something I cannot get into.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

I learned some things from this book, but it does amble on like a boring textbook sometimes. The stories of the the families were very interesting. My great-grandma's cows in N.E. SD ate cockleburs during the depression, and trying to hit water during a well drill was distressing.

Carl Wilcox helps host a 10-year reunion in this installment of the series, but it isn't long into the reunion of Corden's undefeated football team that the popular quarterback Harmon "Heart" Turner is found dead in a shower, killed by what turns out to be a slingshot. The mayor asks Carl to look into it, because of his reputation for solving murders. Carl digs into the past, and finds out that somebody is carrying a long grudge about the actions of four of the players and the coach's daughter. Good mystery, with a few surprises.

trying to bridge the gap betwwen art and anthropolgy she has done a fine job of presenting her work and making it easy to understand for a moron like myself.

I can only comment on the Kansas section of this book, but that leaves a little to be desired. It seems that Knapp found the most popular trails but didn't dig too deep. Another problem is his tendency to list utterly boring rides on semi-maintained doubletrack. If someone buys a mountain biking guide book, it means they are looking for the real thing, not some flat access roads. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of alternatives to this book for cyclists in the midwest so I still have to recommend it as part of your collection, if for nothing else but the states you do not live in.

I bought this book for my daughter to bring to Guatemala to give to her host family. I thought it would be good because it was written in English and Spanish. The book is very colorful with nice pictures, but unfortunately who ever edited this book forgot a few facts. The biggest of which is a two page spread on the state fish. It says the state fish is a northern pike and it has a drawing for children to learn to draw the state fish. Too bad the fish they are actually drawing looks like a steel head trout and nothing like a northern pike. There is even a color pic of these so called northerns, but they don't look anything like the dark green and white spotted fish I know a northern should look like.

The other big error is the map in which major cities of the state are listed. It puts Stanley and Medora, boths towns of a few hundred people as major cities, while eliminating both Minot and Dickinson, which number in the thousands (yes, these are the big towns in North Dakota)

I emailed the publisher about these issues, they never got back to me. It seems to me, that a book like this, should have the basic facts correct.

This guide is adequate as an introduction to the trails. I used it in pre-trip planning. The descriptions for trails within the TRNP units are skimpy on details such as total elevation gain and GPS coordinates. Ultimately, I left it in the car when I went backpacking. Maps and aerial photos would really enhance the guide. It also largely ignored the issue of water in the back country of the park, although it does mention sections of the MDH trail where water is an issue.