North Dakota Books

Dakota Diaspora is a lovely book which tells of the author's experiences as a child growing up Jewish on the prairie. From Russia to "Nordakota" Ms. Trupin attempts to understand her parents and their motivations for leaving the "known" for such a great "unknown." She draws mostly upon her own childhood memories, rather than gathering first-hand accounts from her parents. I found the ending somewhat disappointing because we don't find out if the author was able to maintain her Yiddishkeit, which her mother was so concerned that the children would lose without a strong Jewish community. A great book for those looking for a good biography. As a Torah-seeking Kansan, I appreciated reading about a turn-of-the-century Jewish family who departed from the well trodden paths to New York and Chicago in order to live on the land AND maintain a Torah lifestyle.

Having spent 15 years in North Dakota, I was looking forward to some insights into the lives of Jewish migrants to a difficult world. This book describes some aspects of their experience, mainly fascinating domestic incidents well worth preserving. Unfortunately, the book lacks a scene-setting introduction or epilogue to place her story in Eastern European and Midwestern history. What happeened to Sopie and her family after these events? Who are the others mentioned in the acknowledgements? The Rachel Calof memoir, which closely parallels this one, is a model of its kind and can be highly recommended.

This book was updated and reprinted in 2001.

A must for the spearfishing angler. Runs through the history, methods, and stories about darkhouse spearfishing. If you want to know about this sport, this is the only place to go.

This is one of the best, if not THE best, book about what led to the Great Sioux uprising that ultimately caused the destruction of the Great Sioux Nation, the U.S. government banishment to current abysmal reservations and their descent into depression and humiliation, widespread alcoholism and drug addiction and ultimately near genocide. Well documented, well written and comprehensive details of Wavoka's vision and subsequent dissemination of the Ghost Dance, adopted by many Native American tribes, which caused great fear in official Washington as well as the general western white population.

Mooney's study is often fascinating, although one has to wonder how objective and disinterested someone can be who refers to his subject as "this pathetic cult."

The author sifts thru numerous Lakota, Cheyenne, and White accounts of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in an attempt to come up with an accounting of the Native American casualties in that battle. Those accounts are often incomplete, contradictory, or altered in various ways by the White interviewers of these veterans. And in some cases the interviews were conducted many decades after the events described. Indeed, some of the Native participants lived into the 1940s and 50s and were still offering memories even then to various interviewers about who was killed when and where. The author concludes that a total of 31 Indian men were killed in the Custer and Reno engagements of this battle. That seems a ludicrously low number, given that several thousand targets were on the field and that several hundred troopers were firing on them. It suggests both superior tactics on the part of the Indians and inferior marksmanship and a breakdown of command on the part of the troopers.

The old story is quickly retold using Indian witnesses to flesh out some specific who shot whom, threading the Red man's perspectives, and recollections with the often-quoted white man's. He disputes Marquis's mass suicide theories, citing contrary statements given Marquis, by his same sources. Hardorff takes a page from Gray, compiling charts of Indian casualties with witness lists, and tribal affiliations. However, it was at least 20 years after the battle before any of the Indian casualty lists were compiled. In the final table, I noticed that later interviews reported lower and lower average casualty numbers. It left me with the feeling that we still do not have a definitive picture of the Indian losses. I admire the hard work that went into this book, and can recommend it to serious Custerphiles.

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