North Dakota Books

I read this book a long time ago. We are talking decades. And the memory of this AUTOBIOGRAPHICAl story still make me smile and give me a the joy of life again and again.
This book will renew in you -- an ability to keep hope, an ability to see best in the worst circumstances, an ability to see light in the moments of dark and despair.... It will help you to remember how to keep smiling through tears...
Thank you Alan Marshall!!! When I get kids, I'll make sure this is a book on the "to read" list :)

I can jump puddles is the autobiographical account of the author as a boy, more particularly after he gets sick and has to deal with his handicaps, and the punishing regime and treatments he has to go through and face every day.

He also has to learn to relate and get along with his able-bodied peers, and earn their respect.

The excellent story about boy exploring the world around him and establishing courageous qualities of Man in what is truly a celebration of the human spirit when faced with hardship.

I read this book as a kid over twenty years ago, and I loved it. Now I'd like my son to read it. Isn't it surprising that it has not been published here recently?

Anyone can relate to Alan's story because it's not so much about a boy with polio as it is a story about a boy getting through childhood as we have all had to do. Annoying sisters, demanding parents, schoolyard brawls and spending as much time with your friends as possible. The Australian vernacular may be a little difficult with someone not familiar with the language but doesn't detract from the enjoyment of reading about one boys' adventures growing up in the turn-of-the-century Australian bush. It's heartwarming and inspirational but not overly syrupy or preachy. It's just the facts as he remembers them. A definite recommendation especially for young readers.

I wished I had known (should have read the reviews!) that this is a coffee table attempt to deal with an extremely complicated subject. The pretty pictures and artwork were fine, but the book claims to have important historical information from the Crow scouts. When I read (reread and reread) the accounts, I was no closer to understanding what happened. Indeed, one descendant of the Crow scouts admitted that the versions of the events told to him by the scouts were not the same.

The book's strength is in its modern work at the site. The articles about what items were found at both sites with metal detectors (a whole horse!) was fascinating and worth the purchase price. For instance, that bullets with the same rifling were found all over the Custer battle site is fascinating. I hope more metal detector search can be done.

This book is so ground-breaking and thorough and clever that I'll read it again as soon as I get time. The narratives and recollections of native Americans combined with the most up-to-date scholarship make this book a small masterpiece. Our view of the battle was so slanted and biased, generally without intention, because of an overemphasis on the records of European participants, etc. This book gives another view, and thus B-A-L-A-N-C-E.!!

Read without knowledge of the other Indian based accounts available; this is an interesting book. There are other books available also which are based on Indian accounts and seem more coherent. This book is pretty and interesting but adds very little to a serious student of the event. Some of the vignettes are interesting when compared with other indian accounts and blended with them. The story of Custer sitting around at Weir point while Reno's battalion was being routed is not well placed in time or detail. In short, the book is a quick and easy read. It is an interesting contrast to the "old" accounts of the Little Big Horn saga. In light of other recent works on the subject; it is a lightweight.

In general I'm not really big on modern history (my notion of "modern" being everything after 1200 BC!), but Viola's book "Little Bighorn Remembered," featured as it was as the "untold Indian story of Custer's last stand," intrigued me. I have to admit to having had to take a second run at it before I really got into the subject. It isn't that the work is poorly written; it isn't. I think that the up front and in your face brutality of the 19th Century US government in dealing with the Native American population was just hard to deal with for me. It`s not that I am myself Native American; I just have a strong sense of fairness and fairness had no part in it. When I finally did settle into the material, however, it read rapidly. In fact it probably classifies highly with some of those I-couldn't-put-it-down novels over which people burn the midnight oil. (In my case I should have been getting a quick nap between patients while I was on-call for the OR on a night shift).

The first two chapters of the book concern the antecedents leading up to the Indian confrontation with Custer and the 7th Cavalry. These included Custer's own pre-dawn attack on a sleeping Cheyenne village under the leadership of Chief Black Kettle on the Washita River in 1868 and an earlier similar attack on Plains Tribes camping at Sand Creek in 1864. In both instances dozens of men, women, and children were hunted down and shot and their bodies butchered. In the 1868 attack even the Cheyenne pony herd, some 900 animals, was also killed, severely crippling the people's ability to pursue their traditional lifestyle. The narrative of these two chapters is filled with unfulfilled promises and broken treaties with Native Americans in the furtherance of US territorial expansion during the 19th Century. Certainly anyone familiar with the attitudes of Europeans toward technologically less advanced populations world wide in areas they wished to exploit will recognize the pattern.

The remainder of the book is divided into chapters each dealing with various perspectives on the battle of the Little Bighorn. Here is where the book rises above others on the subject, for Viola makes use of very diverse sources in his effort to thoroughly and fairly cover the subject .

Included are the oral histories passed on by the Indian participants, stories from the Cheyenne and the Dakota on one side and from the Crow and Arikara scouts with Custer on the other. Probably the most interesting part of this material is the fact that not all Plains Indians felt the same about the coming of the army into the area. In fact the imperialism of the US government was actually superimposed upon on-going events among traditional enemies within the community of local people. The long standing enmity of certain groups actually facilitated the ultimate defeat of the Plains Indians. Even allies weren't necessarily of one mind and still are not. A popular saying among the modern Cheyenne is that "The Sioux got the glory, the Crows got the land, but the Cheyennes did the fighting(p. 27)."

Also among the narratives are notes left by Edward S. Curtis who undertook the mission of creating a photographic preservation of Native American Indian lifestyles before they disappeared. During the pursuit of this work Curtis took the opportunity of covering the battle site in the company of three of Custer's Crow scouts. From information about events provided by these individuals he came to the conclusion that the battle had not proceeded as recorded thirty years previously. His intent to publish his conclusions in his project was discouraged by President Theodore Roosevelt, primarily because the latter was concerned that pro-Custer factions would ruin Curtis. The information was preserved and given over to the National Museum of American History by his son Harold just prior to Harold's death at the age of 95 in 1988.

Among the "documents" preserving the Battle at Little Bighorn are the Indian drawings of the event of which Viola includes illustrations of many. Though simple line drawings they give every bit as clear an image of the violence and carnage of the battle field as do the photo images of the Civil War. Included are drawings by the Dakota, Red Horse, and some etched drawings by an unknown artists on flattened metal from trade kettles. Also presented, many for the first time, are some of the victory memorabilia collected from the battlefield and preserved by family members of the Indian participants through the generations.

A fire across the battlefield in 1983 made an archaeological examination of the site possible and almost imperative. Application of modern techniques to the charting, recovery and analysis of the material remains on the site by professionals and trained volunteers in the decade between 1985 and 1995 have allowed a reinterpretation of what occurred and an external verification of the stories of various participants. (For a more in-depth account of which see my review of "They Died With Custer : Soldiers' Bones from the Battle of the Little Bighorn.")

Among the most amazing reports of the battle and its events is that of the contribution of suicide to the death toll. Apparently the notion of torture at the hands of Indian combatants, fostered in part by the tradition of post mortem mutilation of enemy bodies (to prevent their full enjoyment of the afterlife) produced a "save the last bullet for yourself" mentality that led to a far higher mortality than might have occurred. One Indian witness reported having seen a man "murder" a compatriot and than shoot himself. Apparently he was not the only individual to have seen this puzzling behavior either.

Probably the most arresting facets of Viola's book, and certainly the ones I found most enjoyable, were the many rotogravure/tintype portraits of the various American Indian personalities involved in the drama of the Plains. The faces are filled with dignity, composure, and intelligence. It leaves the viewer with a sense of compassion and loss. One wonders what the country might have been like had the two worlds learned to coexist more peacefully and to learn from one another.

I found this book to be fascinating pictorially and in its presentation of Indian viewpoints of Little Bighorn.

Some other reviewers have criticized Herman Viola's inclusion of the accounts of Custer's Crow scouts, as if Viola is somehow doing a disservice to scholarship. However, I don't think he is necessarily presenting these accounts as gospel. Viola acknowledges the inconsistencies between witnesses' stories, but he gives the Crow a chance to speak for themselves, which seems like a good thing to me.

Perhaps by publishing these little-known testimonies, Viola will encourage other Indian sources to share their knowledge of Little Bighorn while that knowledge still exists.

I thought this book was wonderful. It has great illustrations, and explains the story of sitting bull very well. I think it is a great resource for teaching about indian culture.

this is a great book to use in class for a biography lesson on sitting bull. it's also a great way to explore american indian naming practices.

When I first opened this book I had no clue the boy called slow was Sitting Bull. When I realized that after reading a few pages, I thought wow! That is so neat. I learned so much about the indian culture and how they came up with their names. I like this book a lot. I'm going to keep it for my children to read when I get older.

Please bear with me as I explain something. When I was an undergraduate in college I did an art project that looked at photographs and their titles. I was interested in the ways in which people will completely reassess their interpretation of a piece of art when they read its title. Many times, a person will completely bypass the art itself so as to see the title and be told what to think. In much the same way, I almost immediately flipped to the back cover of this book to read information about the author. It was as if I had to confirm or deny my suspicions before they'd even formed. As it happens, I was pleased to read that Joseph Bruchac was a Native American storyteller. Would I have enjoyed this books as much as I did had I not read this? I don't know. In any case, the book is lovely. The text is respectful and unhurried, choosing to develop the characters before launching into action. It does not revert to any cliches that I could discover, and the drawings are superb. They are sometimes dreamlike, sometimes evocative shots of people going about their lives, and sometimes tent drawings. I know that some have complained that this book has a bit of a *gotcha* ending, and I have to admit that I agree. It's a surprise ending that comes as no surprise at all. Nonetheless, the story tells well and I would unequivocally recommend it for storytelling to kids. It would pair well with other stories of great Native American heroes.

We read this book for our book club, and rated it on the following items. What is shown is an average of our votes, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest:

Illustration quality -- 4

Information quality -- 3

Information quantity -- 2

Story quality -- 4

We decided that if we were going to write a paper or take a test having only read this book, we would not do very well, hence the low number to information quantity. Our favorite part was when Slow defeated the other tribe and earned his new name, Sitting Bull.

Very nice set of reminiscences of a young white girl, growing up on the Prairie Frontier in Sioux Country in remote Nebraska. Especially interesting is the fact that in the home her family didn't speak English, so they were almost as isolated from the neighboring Whites as they were from the Sioux by language.

Aimed at young adults and adults, the book gives a good view of life styles in the early "West" of the growing United States.

This gives me some sense of what it would be like to live with the Sioux. Simple enough for a child to read. No magic, but worth reading.

Mari Sandoz, the daughter of German-Swiss parents, was born in 1896 on the Great Plains of Nebraska, and spent much of her young life amid the Sioux tribes there at that time. This book, which is only 118 pages long, briefly depicts much of what she learned first-hand of Sioux customs and rituals. She writes with great intimacy, love, and a depth of knowledge that few could match. Her prose sometimes meanders, and often gives the sense of being unstructured, without a coherent thread. This might bother some and not others. Admittedly, it bothered me at times, as I prefer my facts and history presented in a more cohesive context. That said, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in Native American history.

Being a native person, I'm always pleased to read a wonderful book about First Nation Peoples. Can't recommend it highly enough though it is brief. HOWEVER--be very cautious when ordering a used copy of this book. I received, for $5.00 plus shipping, a $.50 Dell version with a horrible cover--inappropriate for today's readers. Type was small and it just left me with alot of disappointment since I'd seen the the beautifully published newer edition. BUYER BEWARE!!

This is a clarification of the review below by:
natasha trotskygrad from moscow, Ussr.

Mari Sandoz was a FEMALE author from northern Nebraska. :)

And this is a great Sioux book, but even more highly recommended is Sandoz' CRAZY HORSE biography. Sandoz was quite respected by the native population and did extensive research for all of her books. Her book on Crazy Horse even used first hand oral accounts with those who knew Crazy Horse.

Very well written. Accuracy not to sure. My wife and I were raised in that area and are unaware of communities talked about in the book.

Fast, easy to read style. Depicts the pioneer life true to form. If you like Laura Ingalls Wilder, you'll love Carrie Young.

There were no reviews at this site when I ordered the book. I wish there had been - as I thought the book would be set around the 1900s and the only story that was set in that time frame was the first. The first story WAS good. But I had purchased it more for research into the Victorian times in North Dakota and so I was disappointed. I was also disappointed in how little I got for my money. The rest of the stories were only so-so.

There were no reviews at this site when I ordered the book. I wish there had been - as I thought the book would be set around the 1900s and the only story that was set in that time frame was the first. The first story WAS good. But I had purchased it more for research into the Victorian times in North Dakota and so I was disappointed. I was also disappointed in how little I got for my money. The rest of the stories were only so-so.

Ironically, I share the same name as the author, although no relation. I agree with the reviewer who said that she still thinks of the characters 4 years after reading the book.

I found myself in awe of what these homesteaders accomplished. The style of writing made for a quick read, and I have found myself going back to the book to re-read it about 2 times per year. Some details I have nearly committed to memory. I can't think of very many books that I can so enjoy when re-read- ing them.

A young girl, taken and raised by plains Indians, is captured and returned to her Christian family. Her struggle to assimilate to her family's ways is central to the story. Along with her failures in her struggle, comes insight and the eventual realization she must return to her Indian people if she is to survive. But her father, a pastor, is determined that she stay and adjust. How this conflict is resolved provides a gentle lesson in the power of mutual yielding and understanding. This is a wonderful story that can be read on more than one level.

The book had am iteresting point of view for fow Native Americans act and how Causasions of that time acted. I believe it was a good book and worth while to read.

This book was truly moving and it was full of emotion. The character was believable, because the way she was brought up was not to show emotion, but to keep it all inside. You could feel her troubled soul through the author's words. Altogether, this was a great book.

The main charicter seemed to be made out of stone, not flesh. She showed no feelings throughout the whole story. Even though her life brought her many challenges and sorrowes, she did not even bat an eye. She was not a believable charicter,and i was dissapointed by the novel over all.

When I wish a book wouldn't end or at least have another chapter or two it's been a good book for me. Some very delicate material was handeled quite nicely and the relationships are beautiful. I recommend this book to a young teen or any adult.

I liked this book and I really like Sparky Hemingway, the central character and his girlfriend and his adopted daugher. I didn't have any problem with the various names (and Snake, the name of his dog, was _his_ nickname in Nam, not a friend's nickname)

This wasn't exactly a mystery. It has a similar relationship to the mystery genre that the Travis McGee novels do. That isn't a bad thing. The story told by the previous book and this book set up a situation where there could be many more Sparky Hemingway mysteries. Which would be a good thing. Some of them might be more tradional whodunits.

On the other hand, I don't know that the books have found an audience. If they haven't, Joel will probably go back to writing SF and Fantasy. So I win either way.

I liked book one better because it had a deeper more dangerous mystery. The character descriptions and dialog are simply a must read. If you liked Home Front, then get off your duff and read this book. Find out what is happening back in the town and how things are settling in.

There are, however, a few unfortunate things going on in the town and Sparky is just the guy to nail it down.

I really like this book and the first (Home Front) ne in what I hope is long series.

These books makee me think of Jules Clement series by Jamie Harrison with it setting in a small town out in the wide open spaces of the upper Midwest and with other mystery novels driven by the characters' and setting like in the Montana Mystery series featuring Gabriel Du Pre by Peter Bowen and Tony Hillermans books in southwest. If you like this book then I bet you like these and vice a versus

This book is a return visit to Hardwood, North Dakota, where neighbors know everything about each other, but have the good grace to pretend that they don't.

Reprising his role as lead character from "Home Front," Ernest "Sparky" Hemingway again finds his quiet life as a copyeditor disturbed by events beyond his control.

This isn't political intrigue on the national or international level; it's local -- small-town local -- which makes it even more intense and consuming for those it affects.

Grab a mug of your favorite hot beverage, curl up in a comfortable chair, and enjoy an engaging read about big goings-on in a small place that these people call home.

I read the other review and couldn't disagree more. First of all, this is a sequel-read Home Front first! You could just pick this book up and read it, but you know more about the characters if you read the first one. Also, it is a small-town plot that takes place in a small-town. If you are looking for non-stop action/explosions etc-it's probably not for you. On the other hand, I never wanted to put it down-and I picked it back up as soon as I could until I finished it.

This book is about small time life and the importance of friends/family. The main character is a loveable old codger that mostly wants to be left alone but things keep cropping up that interfere with his simple life.

I sure as heck hope there is another sequel in the works, because I like these people so much. It leaves you with a "homey" feeling and makes you want more.

Having misplaced my earlier printing of this book (by the University of Nebraska Press) I ordered the Kessinger Publishing, LLC release of this title, only to be terribly disappointed. The Remington drawings are so poorly reproduced that some appear as blacked-out, scarcely discernable blobs, rather than the wonderful sketches they originally were. This printing appears to be a very poorly-reproduced copy of earlier ones, with much quality lost. Find a copy of the extremely attractive Nebraska (Bison) edition instead.

From someone who has lived this life on the great plains from cowboy to hunter, this book is in every detail right on. It is written in Teddy's classic modest style (who else could float the Missouri during spring break up chasing criminals with guns and describe it with as much excitement as buttering toast).

It also is a repeat of some of his earlier works as this seems to be a bit of transitional book of when he was about leaving the Elkhorn for the east.
The Wilderness Hunter is more poetic and Hunting Trips of a Ranchman is a better read, but the history in this book of how Montana and the Dakotas were made safe by lynch justice makes this one interesting too.

The sketches by Remington are wonderfully historic to study and add a great deal to this book.
This book though is like all of Teddy's in settling down with a friend and always looking for his next book to find a campfire with him again.
Thank God Mr. Roosevelt wrote so many wonderful books.

"Ranch Life And The Hunting Trail" is Theodore Roosevelt's narrative of his life and experiences during his time in the Dakota Territory of the 1880s. Published in 1888, it displays Roosevelt's writing at this finest. His picture words make the scenes come alive in all their splendor. This is a TR I never knew existed. For anyone with a love of western adventure, this book is it!

Besides providing the sheer enjoyment of reading, this book actually teaches the reader much about the life and economy of the era. I had always heard about the open range and the roundup, but this book makes the concepts clear. Cattle and horses were left to feed on the open range. The herds were divided during the roundup, with the calves given the brands of their mothers, as the way to assert property rights in the cattle. The devastation of a severe winter cannot be imagined until you read an eyewitness account, and few are written as well as this. The challenges of the hunt and the unique characters of the West can be experienced vicariously through the pages of this book.

Frederic Remington's illustrations add visual images to the written word.

This book is an excellent choice for anyone with longing for the lure of the Old West or a window into the world of Theodore Roosevelt.

"Ranch Life And The Hunting Trail" is Theodore Roosevelt's narrative of his life and experiences during his time in the Dakota Territory of the 1880s. Published in 1888, it displays Roosevelt's writing at this finest. His picture words make the scenes come alive in all their splendor. This is a TR I never knew existed. For anyone with a love of western adventure, this book is it!

Besides providing the sheer enjoyment of reading, this book actually teaches the reader much about the life and economy of the era. I had always heard about the open range and the roundup, but this book makes the concepts clear. Cattle and horses were left to feed on the open range. The herds were divided during the roundup, with the calves given the brands of their mothers, as the way to assert property rights in the cattle. The devastation of a severe winter cannot be imagined until you read an eyewitness account, and few are written as well as this. The challenges of the hunt and the unique characters of the West can be experienced vicariously through the pages of this book.

Frederic Remington's illustrations add visual images to the written word.

This book is an excellent choice for anyone with longing for the lure of the Old West or a window into the world of Theodore Roosevelt.

I have an original copy of this classic. Not a photo-copy. NOT much else of Americana as spectacular.

Just as beautiful as the state it honors. Magnificent photography of breathtaking scenery, it does justice to this faraway land beloved to the few of us who have been fortunate enough, even if only for a little while, to make it our home.

I bought this book as a Christmas present for someone homesick for his home state of North Dakota. I think he really enjoyed it, especially the large, beautiful nightlight(s) picture of his home town. I do wish the book were a little bigger but all-in-all, it was a great purchase.

I think that this book is a well above average "picturebook." It's short on narrative, unlike "North Dakota ...Land of Changing Seasons," for example. I've had "Simply Beautiful" for about a week and find myself thumbing through it time and again. I expect that I will continue to do so for some time. Disclaimer: I've been a ND resident for 38 of my 40 years.

This is a terrific book for the coffee table and for those wanting a superficial glimpse of a terrific state.

Still, a few maps would help readers gain perspective into the various regions. First thoughts of outsiders regarding North Dakota? Cold and flat. Yet, the state does have a lot more variety and warmer summers than other states. Maps tied to the pictures would help. So, too, would brief descriptions of the counties interspersed between some of the fantastic photos.

Despite the omissions alluded to above I recommend this book to all readers interested in North Dakota.

This book has beautiful pictures of around the state of North Dakota with awesome country scenes. It did show one city picture of Minot which was nice however I think to have made the book complete He should of had a city picture of Grand Forks, Fargo or even Bismark the capital. I feel most of the pictures were of the western side of the state however the book was good and the pictures were impressive.
Worth buying.

William S.E. Coleman, who is one of America's best writers to begin with, has created the definitive history of the tragedy at Wounded Knee. The consummate western researcher, Doctor Coleman has been one of the foremost experts on William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody for several decades. His knowledge and fascination with the bridging of the wild west into the theater of the 20th century has led him on this profound, oral excavation of the events that signaled the final betrayal of the American Indian and particularly the Sioux culture. This mesmerizing project presents the actual words of the principal witnesses to the massacre of non-combatant men, women and children near Wounded Knee Creek in 1890. There has never been a truer or more accurate accounting of the events that formed the Messianic, Ghost Dance rituals of the Oglala and Lakota Sioux, which were ultimately misinterpreted by the Eurocentric, white settlers and military. Beginning with the reminiscence of Ben Black Elk in a hypnotic, 1971 interview, Coleman uses the written transcripts of the participants, observers, government employees and the Indians themselves to describe the shattered treaties, subcultural prejudices and provocative press accounts that spawned the genocide. His resources are varied and composed alongside each other in an unusually egalitarian mixture, allowing the reader to judge complicity and culpability without bias. Voices is the ultimate deconstruction of an extremely confusing and dangerous time in the United States as the home, lifestyle and spiritual essence of the first Americans all but evaporate with the final settling of the frontier. 118 years seem to vanish as the very words of those involved allow us an intimate and authentically immediate recounting unlike any ever offered. It is a masterpiece of human understanding and one of the most exciting histories I've ever read.

This book was very informative and Coleman's style of writing took me back in time during the time of Wounded Knee. Coleman's sources are the most accurate on the subject of the Soiux Nations struggles, Because he interviewed a Soiux tribal member. I thougt it was awesome the way Coleman takes his son's to meet the author of " Bury my heart at Wounded Knee." or at least the author's grandson.

This book is atrocious. The "voices of Wounded Knee," represented in the eyewitness accounts that the editor claims to have spent thirty years gathering (remarkably inefficent work, considering the many sources he missed),are heard in a disjointed fashion. The typeset constantly alternates between normal face and italics - one of many aggravating features of the book. The Wounded Knee tragdy deserves far better than this.

A very informative, well written book. It shows the injustice that the "white man" did to the Native Ameican. It is a Must Read for all. Am glad that the author had first hand information from someone that was there at the time.

I thoroughly appreciated Coleman's technique of piecing actual historical record (interviews & letters) with a minimal of commentary - While hardly a dry presentation, Coleman's technique recreates the atmosphere of the time, and made me feel like I was "living" the events of the time as if I was recieving real-time press reports and actually listening to interviews of the participants. Coleman also reminds the reader of the importance of studying "unfiltered" historical material - His organization of such material into a comprehensive chronolgy is what makes this book truly unique.
From a historical perspective - the book is also a must-read and should be REQUIRED READING in ALL US HISTORY COURSES. As usuall, our national crimes and shame in mistreating the American Indians - particulary the Lakotas - continues to be white-washed. Reading actual writings from many of the key individuals of the time (Red Cloud, McLaughlin, Short Bull, Nelson Miles, Sherman, and various newspaper editorials) provides a shocking view of America's virulent racism, the press's penchant for creating panic and militaristic feeling, political greed and ambition, Indian despiration and hoplessness. If reparations are due anyone - its these people.