South Dakota Books

"Hickok's Gold" is a fine second installment in the Kaye family vacation series. Like the first book, "Bowleg's Bounty," there are really two stories unfolding for the reader. Young readers will enjoy making connections between the story being told by Mr. Kaye each night around the campfire and the events that transpire during the family's vacation. Any family that has gone on camping vacations will enjoy this book. Mr. Kropp's accounts of the highs and lows of family camping ring true. The book should work as a read aloud at bedtime book, as well as a book for young readers to read on their own.

When Benjamin and Martin arrived in the Black Hills with their parents, Mr. Kaye was ready with campfire stories of Cowboys, Indians, and the Gold Fields that sparked danger and a host of legendary characters. A fascinating and engaging story of adventure that blurs the distinction between fantasy and reality, there are ancient riddles to be solved and a quest for wild Bill Hickok's lost gold mine to be made. Author Joseph Kropp is a superb storyteller and "Hickock's Gold" is a deftly crafted novel that will hold the reader's full attention from first page to last. Also very highly recommended is Kropp's previous novel, "Bowleg's Bounty".

I recently read Joseph Kropp's Hickok's Gold and was enthralled by the story. I can recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good yarn about the old west, or the new west. It's really two books in one, one story about intrigue in the old west, and the other about vacationing brothers who share an adventure unravelling an old west mystery. Dr. Kropp does a superb balancing act with the two tales, keeping the reader guessing and always wanting more. I never wanted to put the book down.
I read Dr. Kropp's Bowleg's Bounty, primarily a pirate story (very exciting), and he has elevated his game with his second effort. His writing has matured, and Hickok's Gold will be a satisfying read not only for those interested in stories of the old west, but for those who appreciate good storytelling in any genre. Buy it, enjoy it, and spread the word: There's a new writer in town, and he's a good 'un.

"Before long, they climbed into the van for the short trip to Deadwood. The boys couldn't believe their eyes when they arrived. There was a real Wild West town, just like their father had been describing in his campfire stories." ~ pg. 124

Joseph Kropp is an excellent storyteller, and as he weaves two stories together, a family on vacation experiences the excitement of the Wild West. Throughout the vacation in the Black Hills, the story of Wild Bill Hickock and his gold mine introduces children to real characters who live in a world of intrigue. The creative introduction in a dream leads to real-life adventure as Benjamin and Martin learn to ride horses, sleep out under the stars and meet bear cubs.

"Dawn and the faint beginnings of the new day found Destiny and Buck at the western edge of the Badlands - a mystical, wind-swept, collection of hills and valleys, ringed with the intense, soft colors of the earth. A morning mist hung like a feather bed over the barren landscape, welcoming Destiny home." ~ pg. 139

Destiny is a girl who is separated from her family during a battle and is a member of the Sioux nation. She is part of the story in the past told by the father and we also learn about Chief Sitting Bull and General Custer. Joseph Kropp excels at describing the landscape and creates an adventure infused with reality and imagination.

~The Rebecca Review

This was an enjoyable, non-fiction read that Laura Ingalls Wilder fans will appreciate. The excerpts from letters, newspapers, and many references paint an interesting picture of the journey to create the Little House series. It was a unique perspective to focus on Wilder's life as an author, not her day-to-day life which is well documented in other books. I also liked that it included information about Wilder's daughter and her impact on Wilder's writing.

I stumbled over the author's writing style at times. The comparisons between Wilder's actual childhood and her stories sometimes read like a high school essay. And it'd be a richer read with a little more research on details from outside Wilder's immediate world, such as the market for authors at that time, who was successful, what were other popular books, etc. Last, I also thought the author worked in her own conclusions about Laura and Rose's relationship that weren't actually documented.

Critism aside, I really enjoyed reading this and learning more about Wilder's experience as an author. It is a very nice addition to biographies about Wilder for adults.

I read this book out loud to my husband as we are both Laura lovers, and we were both fascinated. It was nice to learn the facts about how biographical the little house series is and isn't after years of hearing that it was her true story and then all the complaints that it wasn't.

After reading this book, I feel that I know and understand Laura much better. It turned her from a literary character into a real woman who lived the life of a farm wife. Such facts, like the true story of the long winter, were amazing. I only felt that it sort of left Almanzo out of the picture most of the time while concentrating on Laura and Rose. In my mind, you just can't have Laura without Almanzo, and I would have liked to hear more about him.

Over the years I've read everything I could get my hands on about Laura. I have also visited all the sites in her books as well as Mansfield, MO a number of times. I thought I knew all there was to know, but this book proved me wrong.

I can hardly say enough good things about this book. It's exactly the sort of Laura Ingalls Wilder biography I've been wishing for: straightforward non-fiction (footnotes and everything!) with a steady focus on Laura, giving equal weight to both the true details of her life and to her writing.

As an author of children's historical fiction herself, Pamela Smith Hill gives ample insight into the craft of Wilder's writing, drawing attention to a great many elements of the structure and theme of the Little House books that I'd never put together myself. Based on those observations, Hill presents a compelling case that despite being steeped in historical and autobiographical details, Wilder's books are indeed fiction -- a personal history consciously trimmed and molded to fit the form and countours of the novel.

Hill also tackles the fascinating editorial partnership between Laura Ingalls Wilder and daughter Rose Wilder Lane, pointing out with concrete examples how the combination of each woman's natural strengths and gifts contributed to the overall shape and tone of Wilder's novels. Thankfully, Hill manages to keep Rose's dynamic and voilatile personality from overpowering the second half of the book, all the while giving an uncluttered assessment of Rose's role in bringing the Little House stories to print.

I have no complaints about this book. Not a single one.

This really covers the real back story of beloved author Laura Ingalls Wilder. A very interesting read.

"Giant's in the Earth" ended with Per Hansa going off into the snow storm. This novel picks up on his son (who was only 4 when his father disappeared) and his growing years and also fills in the gaps that one had to assumed happened in the first book. A very powerful story regarding a Norwegian boy growing up in America. I only wish that Rolvaag extended it a few more chapters. Peder Victorious, all though it moved slowly at times, was well worth the reading!

After reading "Giants in the Earth" I was anxious to continue the story of the Holm family. I rushed to pick up "Peder Victorious" and its sequel "Their Father's God" and again, I was not dissapointed.

"Peder Victorious" chronicles the childhood of the youngest Holm child, Peder, who is bound for greatness. Through his tribulations with love and sex, to his conflicts with authority this novel brings out all the strife of Americanization.

Perhaps the best built conflict and consequently the most frustrating, is that between Peder and his mother. His mother becomes religiously fanatical at times and consequently drives Peder from the church.

"Peder Victorious" is a powerful novel, written by a brilliant author. It is too bad that I can't read Norwegian, because I'm sure that these novels are even greater in their original language. I would strongly recommend "Peder Victorious" for anyone that is interested in the conflicts of a widening generation gap, but also for those seeking simply a superbly written novel that is entertaining to the end - Enjoy!

This book is the sequel to "Giants in the Earth," an engrossing adventure story about the settlement of the South Dakota prairie. Peder turned out to be entirely different, more cerebral, slower, less exhuberant. I read Giants to learn what my ancestors experienced. It turned out to be a truly significant and exciting novel, but I didn't learn much about the Norwegian-American experience. I picked up Peder to discover what happened to the characters in Giant. Instead, I gained a deeper understanding of the joys and agonies that my family must have experienced as they lost their Norwegian language and culture, becoming Americans.

Peder starts off slowly. Revolving around the title character, it uses Peder Holm's experience as an adolescent as a device to illustrate the changes and conflicts within the Norwegian-American community. As he becomes more mature, and his dilemmas become more adult, the story becomes more engrossing.

I have to admit that I set this one down for about a month before finishing it, but I'm ready to read the next one. In many ways, it is a more significant novel than Giants. It was moving and thought-provoking. Great novels are not always an easy read--this one is worth a bit of patience through Peder's childhood years.

I stumbled onto "Giants in the Earth" years ago and fell in love with it immediately. It was great to find this sequel and Iwas delighted to be able to continue the story. Beautifully written.

From her descriptions of the wind, to the grasses, to the hardships, Ann Daum captured South Dakota's reality on paper. Every chapter lends truths to the prairie and our lives here. Thanks, Ann.

Minneapolis Star-Tribune Regional Round-up, June 24, 2001: "Daum's writing is lyrical, haunted by mortality, and so detailed you can almost feel the dust and heat. With great feeling, she captures a place where 'loneliness is just another disease.'"

Forward Magazine, July Issue: "This land, the prairie is not just in her eyes-it's in her soul in this slender but weighty first book."

If you want to taste earth and the vast, wind-carried longings,this book will be a soulful treat, page after page. Ann weaves image and story together with our almost forgotten human need for something more primal, more true, than our bleak and urban skies.

Every now and then, an authentic voice sings a song about life, the world we live in, and the human condition. In Ann Daum's book "Prairie in Her Eyes," we hear all this, plus a symphony about the animal condition as well. I grew up in New York City. When I read Ann Daum's work, I am transported to a different world, made up of enormous skies, animal bodies and breath, and the rhythm of the seasons in big sky country. I am close to her and her world. I cry about a fox I never met. I breathe deeply about the fate of cows, prairie dogs and horses. Life takes on a new perspective and a depth that flows from the earth, the weather, the ranch, and Ann's generous and sensitive heart. Fine writing should reach out to whatever is univeral, but also speak to one human being's particular experience. "The Prairie In Her Eyes" has achieved this essential interweave, and I recommend it to anyone with heart or soul or mind.

I was so impressed with this book - it struck so close to home - that I could not read it all at once. Like Mohatt, I lived with these people, I Sundanced with Joe Eagle Elk's father, ceremonied, got drunk, into trouble & rose again to help people. Mohatt's text is so close to the actual truth of the conditions on the reservation it literally scared me. That's why I had to stop reading from time to time. The Price of a Gift is the equal of Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions, which is one of the great books about Lakota spirituality.

This is a remarkable work that honors the true voice of a Lakota medicine man and the voices of his people. Mohatt's labor is not to analyze or interpret so much as present an experience which can only begin to be appreciated or understood when the suffering, missteps, fears, and clowning of the healer are shown along with their transcendence. Eagle Elk was an ordinary man who resisted but finally gave himself over to his calling. There are many books that romanticize tokens of Native cultures or presume to make use of them; this is not that sort of book. Like Fadiman's, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, this is a work of great reverence.

The story of Joseph Eagle Elk, Lakota Healer (1931-91), as told to Gerald Mohatt, cross-cultural psychologist, is simply and beautifully told.The effect of many mirrors of the gift of Joseph Eagle Elk derives in part from testimonials by people who he knew and helped to heal themselves. The sacrifice, persecution, and exhausting , demanding life of the traditional Lakota healer are fully portrayed. But the beauty that sings through in Price of a Gift is undeniable. Just to read such a book, just to know such a person lived and touched others, is profound and impacting in itself. An awareness of the core value of our lives radiates through the stories of the life of Eagle Elk. It is impossible to avoid the basic message of this book, with all its humble compassion. Without distortion, greed, evil, or pettiness, the matter of spiritual healing both as duty and joy is its glorious burden. Black Elk's vision included an awareness that the Lakota legacy would include an intrument of healing. The Price Of A Gift is evidence of that legacy. What a gift it is, to us all.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

This is a must-read for everyone interested in healthcare, healing, mental health and/or Lakota culture and spirituality. It's a biography of the late Joseph Eagle Elk, which is riveting and remarkable. And as an extra bonus, the last chapter consists of a lively, multicultural discourse on the spiritual aspects of health and healing. I wish it were required reading for all healthcare professionals in the U.S.! As a Lakota, I found the book accurate and very moving. It's also one of the few books about Indigenous Tribal People written by a European-American that is truly and deeply respectful. The author conveys the complexity of Lakota culture without being patronizing or pseudo-mystical. Thank you, Mr. Mohatt, for this beautiful book.

I have not yet read the book, but have just ordered it. My mother grew up with this man in the small mid-west town where they both lived. I have just bought the book for her.

I read this book in two days, i completely enjoyed reading about the experiences the author had growing up. I found his ability to press forward and see the positive in his experiences inspiring. Too many people spend an abundance of time feeling sorry for themselves and not moving past what life throws at them this individual took advantage of his struggles and became a better person for himself and his family.

His writing style is warm and candid. He tells his story with equal appreciation to the struggles of his parents, siblings, and other family/friends who are touched by those he is close with. One walks away feeling like he tried to understand what others struggled with.

This first time author captures your imagination and holds it like a seasoned professional. This true story of Kenneth Goetz growing up in the midwest, takes you into his childhood and shows how his early life experiences have shaped him. You don't have to be from the midwest or have grown up in the thirties or forties to appreciate his descriptive writing and feel what he felt. As you "grow-up" with Kenneth and finish the book, it leaves you with a strong desire to know how his childhood has shaped his adulthood.

The best compliment that I can give Kenneth Goetz is that by the end of his first book you really feel like you know him; and you like what you know.

I only read this because my mother gave it to me because my name is Susan. I was surprised at how much I wanted to know how Susie was going to cheer up her mother. I was surprised at how much I liked it's tone and style. It is warm and thoughtful. But very simple and straightforward.

Black-Eyed Susan is a book adults and children will enjoy equally. The seeming simplicity of the tale belies rich poetic images that took my breath away. The tenderness and love with which the characters interact with one another will make you feel warm all over, and maybe a renewed hope for humankind. The theme is also unusual for a children's book - Susan's mother is suffering from depression, although no one at that time knew what it was. How her daughter rouses her out of it, with the help of a chance encounter with strangers, is extremely powerful and moving.

Armstrong has thoroughly researched the time period this story takes place in, and it flows naturally so the reader feels she is right there in the story. Lovely illustrations add to the mood.

This book is so cool !!! It is very educational yet very good also, I would recommend this book to anyone out there.This book is a real page-turner.I also think this author has a lot of potential

THE DEATH OF RAYMOND YELLOW THUNDER AND OTHER TRUE STORIES FROM THE NEBRASKA-PINE RIDGE BORDER TOWNS is a top pick not just for Texas collections, but for any library strong in regional American history in general and border town politics and stories in particular. From the long history of racial unrest in these downs to community efforts to overcome internal violence and strife, THE DEATH OF RAYMOND YELLOW THUNDER is packed with powerful blends of history and cross-cultural conflict and interactions.

Reading this book I was completely sucked into a world that...A. I never knew existed, and B. If I knew about I probably would never have given a second thought.

Magnuson did an amazing job tying together the events of the 19th and 20th centuries...and a really great job keeping me from confusing the dozens and dozens of major players in the book.

He tells a series of hot-button stories in a way that manages to be fair to the facts, people and groups involved while at the same time keeping the reader's interest. More than a few times I kept reading just to see how one story would end up, or what would happen to one of the individuals involved.

Stew Magnuson, through investigative reporting unearths new facts and shines light on a dark and shameful period of history. He works hard to identify and treat fairly the multiple perspectives on the death of Mr. Yellow Thunder, the trial, and later the famous Native American occupation of the Wounded Knee battle ground. He describes the events which began in 1972 and interviews the participants' some 35 years later. By writing in narrative, non-fiction style, much like a novel or short story, he has made a captivating read out of complex material. I was surprised when I couldn't put the book down once I started, finishing 320 pages in a weekend. RH

People from the prairies of South Dakota and North Dakota aren't pretentious. Well, some might be, but they tend to stand out in miserable ways. Linda Hasselstrom's writing is like the people of her home: careful, persistent, simple, surprisingly complex, fascinating. Your own family and home may be very different from Hasselstrom's, but through her writing you'll gain a better understanding of your own people and place of origin. Hasselstrom is a master; she shows us how to cherish the tribes we were born into, despite the inevitable losses and disappointments of life. She ranks right up there with Kathleen Norris and Patricia Hampl.

Reading this book was a wonderful experience. What a touching story of a family that develops as all families do; realizing we love our family members even more when we accept them loving us the only way they know how. All this against the backdrop of a still unspoiled area of America. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this region, history or living.
Allen

I unboxed this book, flipped open some pages to preview and before I knew it, I had read 60 pages standing in my kitchen. Legs buckling, I sat and finshed the book in one sitting. The book is compelling because Hasselstrom's storytelling makes you want to read further, but also because her writing mesmerizes the soul. I found myself rereading sentences and hanging on the beauty of her unique prose. "How does she write like this?" I kept asking myself. Her ability to take you within the moment is unsurpassed. You don't need to be a cowgirl to enjoy this book, but if you are, you'll finish it in one sitting--or standing--like I did.

I normally don't write reviews on books. But this on is worth the exception. I first read this book back in the mid to late 80's., when I first started to become interested in caving. I found this book to be both informative as well as entertaining. I've done cave exploration in Minnesota Wisconsin Iowa and South Dakota. In 1988 I attended the annual convention of the National Speleological Society. It took place that Black Hills of South Dakota that year. I then had a chance to do some spelunking in Jewel Cave. This is by far on of the most exciting caves I have ever explored. While in the cave our group crossed paths with Dwight Deal. He caved with the Conn's during the time period written about in this book. He regaled us with some amusing stories about Jewel Cave.(Quite a interesting person.) As one of the evenings line up for the convention we had a presentation from Herb and Jan. They talk about there adventures in Jewel Cave. And pulled out there personal map from their exploration over the years. Then Jan gave a demonstration on filling and lighting a carbide lamp blindfolded. Herb and Jan are truly amazing. If your interested in caves, this is one you'll not want to put down. This one lives up to its name. It's quite an adventure.

Herb and Jan Conn were amateur climbers in the 1930s who fell in love with the Black Hills of South Dakota. At a friend's suggestion, the Conns began moonlighting as spelunkers in winter. When they first visited Jewel Cave, it was a tiny cavern with an intriguing unexplored passage. Luckily for the Conns, that passage led to a mile of unexplored cave passages, then two miles... and exploring Jewel Cave became the Conns' life's work. They describe the exciting exploration (which is still ongoing, with more than 100 miles of passages mapped) with just the right balance of action/adventure, science, and humor. This book is a pioneer of the outdoor/geography genre and is readable, fun and fascinating.

-Review by David Bezanson

Almost fifty years ago, two rock climbers entered a 'nice little cave' to survey it. They had never gone caving before, and wanted to try it out. Because of their efforts, that cave, Jewel Cave, is today the second longest cave in the US. This book tells the tale in a fluent, easy style that is sure to delight and enjoy. Next to 'The Longest Cave' it is possibly the most enjoyable exploration story about caving around. you will be amazed at the amount of work a small group of people was able to do, from the sometimes tortuous mapping of the cave, to the hard backbreaking labor involved in making a portion of their discovery open for public viewing, as part of Jewel Cave Natl. Monument. A large map comes with the book so you can follow them as they explore the ever expanding labyrynth. The 'Jewel Cave Adventure' is a great book for everyone, whether you are seriously interested in the undergorund or just looking for a darn good read.