North Dakota Books

descent photography, I feel as though if you are going to say "Jim Dow in North Dakota" the photos should be only from ND and not the surrounding states. If you are from ND you may not like it.

Jim Dow has done us all a favor with his remarkable book of photos. In the final chapter called Dreaming and Redemption he says `Those unfamiliar with North Dakota habitually say that it is cold, boring, flat, desolate and empty -- inadequate generalizations that simply don't hold up'. Just look through the 185 color photos several times and the Peace Garden State will grow on you and although none of the photos contain people you really feel their presence.

One of the strengths of the book is the editorial flow. Rather than just run page after page of photos here the work is divided into eight chapters each with a page introduction. Some are quite short like the first one: Views of North Dakota, which surprisingly is made up of twelve shots of the inside walls of the state penitentiary where bad guy Charles Olive, murderer and sign painter created a series of murals showing the North Dakota landscape. The Marking the Land chapter has thirty-seven photos of man-made signs, rusting agricultural machinery (deliberately left as a mark on the landscape) and larger than life animal statues. Artists and Workplace chapter (sixty photos) features workshops, bars, retail interiors and commercial architecture. Religious Life (twenty photos) reflects the diverse nature of grave markers and church buildings found in the State.

Although I have a paperback copy (2500 printed according to the imprint) I think it could be considered a book of coffee table proportions, well printed in an impressively fine screen and unusual for a photo book it has an index, too. I would only fault this book of photos in the way captions have been handled. Like many photo books they are at the back with a thumbnail and page number when nearly all the text would easily fit under the relevant images.

I think Jim Dow's impressive photos reveal a lot more of North Dakota than the predictable cold, boring and flat cliché.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

I highly recommend this guide to anyone who will be traveling in the Northeast as well as Canada. This guide gives you everything from upcoming events for the year to where to stay & eat. The maps are easy to read and follow. I have been a reader of the Mobil Guide for many years and it is continuing to give the most accurate, up-to-date travel information. This is the MUST-HAVE for the Northeast traveler.

The book gives a good overview of the areas with many addresses. Anyhow I found it a bit too black and white. It gives useful maps, but no coloured pictures from the areas, which would make it a bit more pleasant to read.

It may be that the best thing about this book is Gilmore's folksy style of writing. He brings alive and makes more readable Native American myths of the Plains' tribes. My chief complaint is that he credits no one for his quotes. He includes a bibliography but no footnotes. It's not a huge omission in a work like this but it means you end of taking a lot of what he says on faith alone.

This book contains short accounts of actual myths and folklores of Native American tribes from the Missouri River Region. Excellent for discovering the stories surrounding some geological features around the Missouri River valley. A good read.

I cannot believe this bastardization of a historical event is still on the market. This is horribly inaccurate, using the actual names of Native American children that died, probably because of abuse,malnutrition,ect while they stayed at this horrible boarding school. The author obviously knows NOTHING about this particular tribe's customs and generalizes everything. I would not want any child to read this novel and get the wrong idea about what happened in the past. This does not deserve to be titled a historical fiction, rather it is a book written by an ignorant woman who has NO respect for the deceased, or Native Americans. What was scholastic thinking?

It's unbelievable that this book could get written, and published, much less be praised as it has been in some circles. It re-invents a dark and violent chapter of the oppression of Native Americans as an altruistic summer camp experience. For an incredible, in depth review, check out: http://www.oyate.org/books-to-avoid/myHeart.html. Avoid this book, except to speak out against it.

The setting of this story took place at a school named Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania in the late 1800's.
The conflict of this book was the white men were invading the indian scools and villages, killing them and there food. The resolution was they had to move to reservations that was taken care of by the government.
Nannie Litlle Rose was best friends with Pretty Eagle. Little Rose swore she would keep the secret of Pretty Eagle going into trances. The indians believed her to be a medicine woman. When Pretty Eagle died, Little Rose wasn't allowed to go to the funeral.
I liked this book because it taught me about how the indians lived back then. I think I would have liked to leve in that time because they rode horses to go anywhere. It also taught me some history about the indians in America.
This review is by Raquel Fazzino

I'm a four-teen year old who really disliked this book because alot of things are just made up. On page 32, Nannie's mother asks, "What will you learn? To be more silly than you are?" Lakota Children where treated with alot more respect then that. Then another thing when Belle Rain Water gave Nannie a prayer stick, A hopi child wouldn't give a Lakota child a prayer stick! Sacred objects like these were/are not things children have or share. Just one of Ann Rinaldi made up things. And alot more botherd me while I read the rest of the book.

Having recently read this book for a class I was appalled and astonished at its historical inaccuracies. Although billed as 'historical fiction' it is just fiction. Other than the name of the school and the names lifted off of headstones, there is no history here. It should not be treated as anything but fiction. See the following website for more details. [...]

Having been involved in understanding first-hand much of the details of the Gordon Kahl Incident, I was eager to learn more. What I read was amateurish writing with a promise of objectivity that never delivered. The authors conveniently have left out much of the important facts of this incident, show a bazarre empathy as law officers toward Gordon and Yori Kahl, and convey their "message" regardless of the criminal past and threat posed by those directly involved in this incident. There are no real indepth background insights offered on either the offenders or the law officers involved, which a real author would do to enlighten his audience. The photo captions are weak to meaningless. The authors list key players at the beginning with a layout as if it was for movie credits, but include no U.S. Marshal Service names involved with the investigation and trial, who all played important roles. Reading Gordon Kah's description of the events was interesting, however.

I have been fascinated by the incident for many years. The incident IS fascinating. The book is a joke. Poorly written. Poorly edited. It reads like a conversation over coffee at some hole in the wall pancake house deep in the bowels of North Dakota. I feel for the ex-cops that experienced the shoot-out. I am sorry, but leave the writing for the professionals - so the two guys who unfortunately had to deal with the poorly planned attempt at apprehending Kahl - can have their memories for their kids, grandkids, etc.... I am sorry but the book is just plain BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I lived in North Dakota at the time of these events. The author's first-hand account is consistent with, but fills in a lot of the blanks that have been written and reported about the confrontation at Medina ever since.

Critics of the book may point to minor flaws such as allegations of ...covering by the authors. I do not find such flaws nearly as credible as the book. Both Graf and Schnabel were professionals who were cooperative and did more than they were asked. Yes, their small-town police departments was organized like (surprise!) a small-town police department. And, yes, their account is factual, direct and down-to-earth, not full of socialogical [stuff] like Bitter Harvest, the first major book on the incident.

Neither author is apt to get rich on the book as it tells neither side exactly what they want to hear. Accordingly, the only fans of the book are likely to be those interested in just the unvarnishied, unfiltered facts from two police officers who did the best job they could with the tools available and are probably the only ones who conducted themselves properly thoughout all the events leading up to this incident and the aftermath thereof.

In short, if you believe your government is always right and never lies, skip this book because it will shatter your dreams. Skip it also if you believe the tax protest fringe is always the unfortunate victims of a government conspiracy. However, if you believe the truth lies somewhere between, you owe it to yourself to get and read this book.

I am a former law enforcement officer from a small North Dakota town. After reading this book, I felt as if both authors just told me their stories face-to-face. The diagrams and photos really put me "at the scene". It is obvious that the authors of this book are not writers by trade, which actually made it a refreshing change from the same old, same old. I can relate to these officers having to wear many "hats" at their job. Graf shows the world, through this book, what being a Peace Officer is all about--trying to keep the peace. Unlike other authors of books on this subject, Graf actually met with and talked to the murderer on several occasions prior to the shoot-out, making informed decisions on first-hand knowledge. Others chose to ignore this knowledge when it was brought to their attention. Unlike a previous reader review, I've actually had a chance to meet with and talk to the authors after I read this book. I've seen the documentation they have to back up everything they write about in this book. Read the others first if you like, but save this book for last. It is the only true and accurate account you will read!

I read the book, and until reading it, I must say I had taken a lot of the media portrayal of the Medina incident at face value. The book fascinated me, and the credibility really couldn't be questioned. The time between the incident and the actual writing of the book would indicate that it was not a knee-jerk emotional reaction, but rather a well-thought out, painstaking, courageous process to set the record straight. It also means that the decisions to name the names of those who abused power was considered carefully - honesty, even with some risk. Appreciating the book, or even writing the book as it is, doesn't automatically put one in the category of a sympathizer of Kahl. But it does make one think about the rights we all should have as citizens, and how and when they might be threatened by the system as it is. "It's All About Power" may not quite rival the literary quality of "Bitter Harvest", (another book on the same topic, not written by an insider however,) but I don't think it is meant to. It's meant to lay out the facts in a way that a reader can draw his or her own conclusion. I definitely think it accomplishes that goal.

I am a big fan of the Carl Wilcox series and find them to be well written, interesting mysteries. In the case of "The Ice Pick Artist", I was diappointed. I found that the story went around in circles taking a great deal of time to arrive at the conclusion, which is odd for a relatively short book. Carl seems to be spinning his wheels and many of the characters are wooden. I guess it "can't be Nashville every night".

I'm not sure exacty what the author was trying to portray in this book. I didn't pick up on any particular train of thought where the protagonist, Carol Wilcox, was concerned. At one point, I almost lost track of the cast of characters, there were so many; and there didn't seem to be any real connection between this girl and Carl that would make him go traipsing all over the place trying to solve her murder. As for the murder storyline itself, it was somewhat adequate in keeping in line with the rest of the book. Nothing to write home about, that's for sure.

I felt that The Ice Pick Artist by Harold Adams was a major dissapointment. I felt their was a lack of characterization in the main character Carl Wilcox, we don't know what drives him to want to solve the murder of a young hotel visitor. I felt their were to many twists and turns in the story that it confused me as a reader. Adams also could have gone into more descriptive language concerning the setting of these small towns in the Midwest, as well as the characters in the book.

During the Depression, painter Carl Wilcox works at his family's Corden, South Dakota hotel because his father is ill. Three individuals, traveling separately, book rooms in the Wilcox Hotel. Lillybelle Fox is in Corden conducting research into the town's founders with an emphasis on Colonel Cutter. The next day, Lillybelle is found murdered and the other two guests (Murdoff and Olson) are gone.

Carl decides to investigate the killing by continuing Lillybelle's research in a hope that it will reveal a motive for murder. He quickly finds several people with an incentive for killing his guest and most of them start acting ugly towards the amateur sleuth. It seems that everyone has a secret, but especially wanting to keep quiet their clandestine past is a very powerful family with strong state-wide ties.

THE ICE PICK ARTIST is a superb historical regional mystery that brings to life the Depression in South Dakota. The who-done-it is fun and Carl is an intriguing character. Readers will taste the dust while driving all over the state in Carl's Model T. Harold Adams demonstrates why he is a Shamus Award winner with this tale that will have readers running to the used book stores for previous novels in the series.

Harriet Klausner

The only comment I have is that if the other person who wrote a review of this book is going to be sooo picky about the book description, make sure you get YOUR information correct. Montana is to the WEST of South Dakota, not East.

It arrived the day before we went on a 4-day car trip to western SD. As its title indicates it is focused only on the Black Hills and Badlands, so I relied on other guidebooks for info on places like Sioux City and Mitchell. It has interesting historical tidbits and the info was plenty accurate. What more can one ask from a guide book?

Although the book may contain excellant information (I haven't read it) I would find it impossible to buy when the Product Description indicates factually inaccurate information that an average fifth grade student wouldn't make. It states that the Badlands of South Dakota is the "Home of Mount Rushmore (true)and the site of Custer's last stand" (definitely not true). The Battle of Little Big Horn (Custer's so-called Last Stand)actually occurred about 475 miles to the east in Montana. If I can't trust the initial Product Information provided by the Editor then how can I trust that there won't be other inaccuracies in the book. This is not a minor error or a typo, it is an appalling lack of an understanding of basic American History. Although there was a Black Hills Expedition of which Custer was involved his Last Stand was elsewhere.

Yes, there are some historical and geographical inaccuracies in this book, however as a trip guide it is comprehensive and quite helpful. I recently returned from a 6 day trip through the Black Hills, Badlands and Wyoming. The maps were helpful. The restaurant suggestions were excellent. I took several of the Day Trips recommended outside of the area and enjoyed all of them. If you have time check out Spearfish Canyon, Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, Canyon Lake, and Chapel in the Hills. These were true highlights. I carried this book with me every day of my trip and frequently referred to it.

What can you expect from a book that can't even get the cover photo right? The photo is of a region called the Coyote Buttes along the Arizona-Utah border!! I thumbed through it just out of curiousity upon seeing the glaring mistake, but it didn't look as good as the travel material I already had with me, so I didn't buy it.

We are planning a trip to the Badlands and Black Hills in September. Insider's Guide provides a wealth of information and I'm finding it a valuable asset. Combined with info from the internet, we will have a well organized trip with knowledge of this area's history.

We just returned from over a week in the Badlands and Black Hills. Although this book had a lot of very useful information, I hated searching through it. Everything is divided into its own category: hotels, restaurants, activities, etc. So when we were in one place for a day or two, we had to search through different sections to find all of the info for that one place. Even worse, each section is divided out by Northern Hills, Central Hills, etc. or by the type of food you're looking for. There was no central location to find all of the restaurants in Deadwood, for example. Apart from that, I found most of the info to be correct and useful. A few of the entry fees were higher in reality, but my biggest problem was with the book's organization. It was a great vacation, and I had a hard time coming home...

We just got back from a week-long trip to the Black Hills using this guidebook, and while it was better than nothing, and the information was generally correct, it was very hard to use. Instead of being arranged by location, the attractions are arranged by category, with each category subdivided yet again. And the index is no use, since they're not indexed by location. This means that if you're sitting in your motel in (say) Deadwood, and wondering what to do in town, you literally have to thumb through the entire book to figure out! Very frustrating. And the book lacks detailed maps where they are needed (the Deadwood-Lead area, where the roads are rather confusing, or the area around Keystone, Mt. Rushmore, and Crazy Horse). The maps mention the Mickelson Trail, but it's not in the index, and we didn't find out what it was until we were actually there (hint: it's not a scenic highway). And the book needs to be more emphatic about the need to stay away from this whole region in early August because of the motorcycle madness.

Complete waste of Money. Topics discussed are outdated and morally questionable. Would NOT recommend to any relatives or friends, let along perfect strangers.

One of the easiest to read estate planning books that I have read. I recommend this book for anyone with a taxable estate that needs to understand the issues/concepts of estate planning.

I was looking for financial planning advice that was not intimidating and easy for someone not in a "money & numbers" profession to understand. I found just what I needed in this book. The authors provided information in a common-sense, conversational manner. It was arranged so I could find exactly the topics that apply to me and my family. I found good advice, answers I was looking for and learned alot along the way. I was pleasantly surprised that a subject I had always veered away from could really be presented in such a "user-friendly" format.

The authors attempt to portray financial strategies that many CPA's and financial planners agree are questionable if not illegal.

This small book is difficult to assess. At times it is quite interesting, yet at other times, and despite its diminutive size, 69 pages, it seems to be somewhat tedious. Perhaps that's because there is little or no action, but most likely its because many of the direct quotes from the various enlisted men seem irrelevant to the story line, such as it is.

Even so, the book is worth reading, especially if you are interested in, and hope to better understand, the various Indian Wars. I have heard and read quite a bit about "Custer's Last Stand," for example, and have seen quite a few recriminations concerning the way the Indians were massacred at the "Battle of Wounded Knee," but I never made the connection between the two. And, before reading this book, I had never read any eye witness accounts of what the remaining soldiers of the 7th Cavalry found when they finally reached the Little Big Horn two days after the battle. As it turns out, Custer's command was not only wiped out, the troops were stripped, mutilated, and their skull were crushed in. As a result, the soldiers of the 7th set out to wreak havoc on the Indians to avenge their comrades, especially when they found 7th Cavalry artifacts from the battle in the various Indian encampments. Thus the massacre at Wounded Knee - small wonder.

In any event, you have to admire this hardy troop of scalawags and wonder why they would subject themselves to such dangers and privations with such meager chance of reward. I, for one, would have a hard time eating raw horse meat even if I had some salt and pepper, let alone without it. But these were tough men in a tough time and place.

This book is exactly 69 pages long, 69 SMALL pages. It can easily be read in less than an hour. It should more accurately be called a monograph, not a book. What I infer from this "book" is that the men who "trailed the Sioux" must have been one laconic bunch. No new information here. It's no surprise that they complained about the "Starvation March" and cussed about Crook. Don't expect any info on why they fought, how they felt about their equipment or weapons, how they felt about Miles or McKenzie, or even Custer.

Direct quotes here are usually, but not exclusively, short. Hedren mostly paraphrases throughout the "book". He also spends a lot of precious space trying to put a quote in context by recounting briefly the history of the Great Sioux War as it relates to any one particular quote. Did I mention its only 69 pages?

Hedren should have broadened his scope to include enlisted comments from the entire Sioux/Northern Cheyenne struggle from 1864-90 and ended up with a real book of 200 pages or so.

Not recommended. Not worth the price. Get Rickey's "Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay" for a better look at enlisted life during the Indian Wars.

Those who have had the chance to peruse the early 20th century Indian War veterans publication, "Winners of the West," may recall the vets repeated contention that the hardships and deprivations they endured on the Northern Plains exceeded those suffered by other troops in other wars. Paul Hedren's well-written narrative that rides along on various first-person quotes from Sioux War veterans will help the reader realize that their contention was not without strong merit.

The author begins this all too brief work by describing the varied nature of the enlisted men who served in the Sioux War--immigrants, youth searching for adventure, a small enclave of educated men and various malcontents. On the whole, his portrait is more positve than that drawn by some other present-day writers who often tend to view the enlisted men in the same terms as 19th century society in general did; that is, as the dregs of society unable to fit in elsewhere and unwanted by the civilian world. Hedren then treats the reader to selections from numerous journals, letters and interviews with enlisted men to craft an "in the field" look at what life was like for those in the Great Sioux War, focussing primarily on the events of 1876 and those serving under Terry, Gibbon, Custer, and Crook. You will feel the frustration of a tired trooper, ready to soak his feet in a water puddle only to come back and find a thirsty mule has drained it. Commisserate with a soldier who describes his Christmas meal as a "regular old Christmas dinner. A little piece of fat bacon and hard tack and a half cup of coffee." Marvel with the diarist who wrote of a fellow trooper with the unique ability to sleep soundly while water from heavy rains washed over him!

Surely, the greatest difficulties (with the exception of those who were killed/wounded in battle) were encountered by those on General Crook's infamous "starvation march" in late summer 1876 as gaunt horses and mules were slain in order to provide sustenance to the men. This section, along with a generous selection of quotes from the enlisted men who survived the Reno/Benteen portion of the Little Big Horn battle make for fascinating reading. All was not hardship though, as Hedren relates accounts of boredom in camp that was relieved by baseball, songs, stories, and whatever frivolity the men could conjure up. All of these "verbal pictures" are further enhanced by a generous selection of photographs of enlisted men, both in portraits taken in studios as well as photographs from the field, mainly captured by the lens of Stanley Morrow who documented the hardships of the "starvation march." The only complaint about this book is that I wish it could have been longer and delved into the Wolf Mountain battle of January 1877, fought against the twin enemies of severe cold as well as the Sioux.

Rightfully so, this book is dedicated to the memory of the late Don G. Rickey, author of the 1963 classic FORTY MILES A DAY ON BEANS AND HAY. If you own Mr. Rickey's book, you should buy Mr. Hedren's WE TRAILED THE SIOUX as the two books work well together.