North Dakota Books

This book is not written in a particularly sprightly style and yet I found it a work fascinating in the extreme. It starts at the very beginning , and I am sorry it only goes up to 1966. The chapter on the Non-Partisan League (1915-1923) was the most interesting. And Bill Langer had a fascinating career, the account of which was made more attention-holding for me because I used to go to the Senate gallery when I was going to law school in Washington and listen to his orations. Unforgettable, since unique. This is a great and memorable book.

This is a terrific book! Anyone who has ever lived in a SD small town should have this on their coffee table. From the stars over Capa, a sheep show in Howard, & children on a swing in Millboro, to a wedding in Henry, bagpipes in Scotland, and an outdoor theatre in Redfield, Latza does a marvelous job of capturing the essence and spirit of life in a small town.

"Honoring the Grandmothers" is a slim book, barely bigger than your average sized pamphlet. Edited by Sarah Penman, a video and radio commentator living in Minnesota, the book is a collection of musings by four Dakota/Lakota grandmothers about traditional Indian knowledge and customs and how they relate to today's fast paced world. Penman captured the stories on tape over a period of years, working hard to overcome many obstacles to get the stories to us, the reader. There is little commentary on the stories; Penman allows them to speak for themselves. Two of the grandmothers have since passed away, but their words do continue to speak about maintaining dignity and culture in a world that likes to forget about the Indians and their way of life.

Celane Not Help Him is the first speaker presented in the book. Celane did not have an easy life; she lived in poverty for most of her life, with little formal education. Her family lost their property when the United States Air Force confiscated it during WWII for use as an artillery range. Celane is the granddaughter of Iron Hail, a Lakota who survived the Battle of Little Big Horn and the Wounded Knee massacre of 1890. Celane provides an oral history of Wounded Knee that is both enlightening in historical terms and depressing in an emotional sense. It is hard to read Celane's account, as her speaking skills do not land easily on an English-speaking ear. It is best to read the account straight through, and then think about it for a time. When this is done, Celane comes across as clear as a star in the sky.

The next set of stories comes from Stella Pretty Sounding Flute, a Wahpekute-Hunkpati Dakota. The Dakota people, like most Indians, had difficulties dealing with the burgeoning white population of America in the 19th century. After years of declining fortunes, an 1862 uprising in Minnesota brought down every bit of force the American government could muster on the Dakotas. The Dakota did not disappear, but scattered throughout Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Minnesota. Stella does not concern herself with these events as much as she does with the traditions she learned from her own grandparents. Her grandmother passed on skills and knowledge that no school can teach. Stella discusses the loss of the Black Hills, the traditions of pipe carrying, and spiritual beliefs.

The third storyteller is Cecilia Hernandez Montgomery. Cecilia is part Mexican, part Oglala Sioux, and part firecracker. This is one tough dame. Cecilia spent time in a Catholic school (back when they REALLY used the ruler), studied music, and worked herself dizzy at a series of low paying jobs. Cecilia really came into her own when she started a career as an activist in South Dakota, working hard to improve the living conditions of poor people (all poor people, not just Indians). She sits on many boards, committees, and still pounds the pavement when problems arise. She did all of this into her seventies and beyond, not only exploding the myth of the lazy Indian but also causing irreparable harm to the conception that old people cannot do anything of value.

The last narrative comes from Iola Columbus, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota. Like many other Indians, Columbus spent time in an Indian boarding school, where military discipline combined with strict adherence to corporeal punishment attempted to erase the "Indian" from the Indians. Columbus's story is different from the others because she went on to become the first woman elected to tribal chair in the state of Minnesota. She later founded a grandmother's society, where women elders can gather to share traditional knowledge with new generations.

"Honoring the Grandmothers" is really a book about the elderly and their marginalized role in American society. This is occurring not only in white society but in Indian society as well. A couple of the grandmothers lament the fact that their knowledge is not passed on, but disappearing as older members of Indian tribes pass away. In short, the same mentality (of the doddering old fool who is well past his/her prime) that leads whites to toss the elderly into nursing homes happens in Indian society as well. The elderly are rich sources of knowledge and culture in every society. We ignore them at our own peril.

This is a valuable book (resource) for budding entrepreneurs. It seems to try to cover all the bases for starting a small business, but it can't do them all well in the space available between its covers. The book is only 288 pages long. If you are in the planning stages of starting a small business, then I highly recommend you get a copy of this book. Read it, study it, and outline it. There are helpful checklists to help you grasp the subjects. You will come up with a plethora of keywords and terms that you will want to google to find Web pages giving more detailed (and maybe more current) information.

I am a SCORE counselor (Senior Corps of Retired Executives) who typically does face-to-face counseling sessions three nights a month. It would really be neat if my clients would read this book BEFORE they came to their session with me because they would pretty much be "educated customers" ready to ask educated questions. Our sessions would be so much more beneficial.

My favorite chapters were:

1. Initial business concerns
2. Your business' structure
3. Business start-up details
5. Sources of business assistance (SCORE is mentioned here)
7. Your smart business plan (and a good sample plan is included)
8. Obtaining the financing you need

The book is weak when it comes to how the Internet can be used in corresponding, hiring, and marketing. But this is just one example of how googling keywords and concepts found in the book will make the book more complete. Don't treat the book as authoritative on the law. It isn't. Nor was it ever intended to be. It is light on tax information as it relates to small business.

I was particularly impressed with the material presented in Chapter 2: Choice of Legal Entity. That subject is sorely ignored in most small business books, and it is critically important. It is a subject I regularly must spend a great deal of time discussing at my SCORE sessions. This book does a pretty good job on the topic.

Chapters 4 and 9 through 12 are easy to find fault with. The topic of each could fill a book. But having these topics covered definitely will help a budding entrepreneur know some of the issues they raise.

I would have liked the book more if Chapter 6 (marketing) had been less superficial. When I read it I got the impression that the author was more a public relations expert than a marketing expert. I generally categorize public relations as a subset of marketing. Marketing includes advertising, public relations, and a whole host of other promotion techniques. I did not get this message when I read the book. I also would have liked the book better if the Internet, email, and Web sites had been discussed more. But there are many books on those subjects. Therefore, I can't complain too much about the limited discussion of computers.

When you read this book it may feel a little like it was produced on an assembly line. Maybe it was? There are 51 versions of this book sold; one for each state and the District of Columbia. Content is king, and this book has it. 5 stars!

Excellent resource for anyone just beginning their walk. Although in some respects, all ceremonies will vary from Spiritual Leader to Spiritual Leader, this book gives a basic and authentic over-view of the Traditional Lakota ceremonies which does not violate the sacredness of them. It gives a novice an idea of the protocols and what might be expected. The author lived many years on the Rosebud Reservation and is a former Chairman of the Rosebud Medicine Men and Pastors organization.

"Iktomi and the Boulder" is the first in a series of stories about the trickster of the Lakota retold and illustrated by Paul Goble. Iktomi (pronounced "eek-toe-me") is the hero, so to speak, of a series of humorous stories. The trickster is a universal character in North American myths and legends, known by different names in different parts of the country. The common denominator is that Iktomi is always trying to get the better of others, but usually ends up being the one who looks foolish.

In this first story Iktomi is out walking along dressed in his best clothes, so that he looks like a real chief. The problem is that as he continues on his long walk under the hot sun Iktomi starts to wish that he had not put on so many clothes. While resting in the shade of a great boulder he comes up with the idea of leaving his blanket on top of the boulder so he does not have to carry it any farther. But he tells the blanket he is doing this so that the blanket can help the boulder keep the hot sun off of him. This sounds like generosity on Iktomi's part, but as soon he notices a storm cloud is coming he wants the blanket back. The thing is, the boulder is not happy with Iktomi taking back what he has given, and he goes after our hero. Who can possibly help Iktomi against an angry boulder?

Young readers will enjoy the ways in which Iktomi proves to be too clever for his own good. In story after story Iktomi proves himself to be a mischief maker who I always up to no good and getting himself into trouble. There are older stories about Iktomi in which the Creator entrusts him with those aspects of the Creation that people seem to be mistakes, such as earthquakes, floods, disease, flies, and, of course, mosquitoes. But Goble is focusing on those that make a point about Iktomi's behavior, even if the moral is never explicitly stated.

Goble does a couple of new things with this series of books that are different from his other retelling of Native American tales. Throughout the book Iktomi's thoughts are printed in small type and the text sometimes changes to italics so that the reader can let their listeners make comments about what Iktomi is doing. Goble usually asks a question that puts Iktomi's actions in a different light or point out his, um, inconsistencies (e.g., animals are almost always laughing at Iktomi). Goble actually wants listeners to make rude remarks about Iktomi, to really get into the spirit of the story. He also points out that at some point the storyteller should lift their forefinger for silence so that they can go on with the story.

Author: Brown, Dee Alexander.
Title: Killdeer Mountain : a novel / Dee Brown.
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : Holt, Rinehart and Winston, c1983.
Edition Date: 1983
Language: English
Physical Details: 279 p. ; 22 cm.
Subjects: Frontier and pioneer life--Dakota Territory--Fiction.
Indians of North America--Wars--Fiction.
Dakota Indians--Fiction.
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Fiction.
Genre or Form: Historical fiction.

This has a short overview of the history of the tribe. It really shines in the illustrations, with many photographs.

This is a wonderful book.The War is reviewed by the warriors, wise men and tribe members.To see it through their eyes plus the scholarship of the author is really amazing. Someone once said that history is always written by the victors, but the honesty and balance of this book belies that.
Jerome A. Greene is a splendid writer and historian and has added an excellent volume to the canon of books already published on the subject. Thanks Amazon for making my aware of its existence.

Elaine Lindgren has done an excellent job researching a little known subject. She gives not only a very fine introduction to the subject of homesteading, she provides a wonderful written documentary of the phenomenon of single women who homesteaded in North Dakota. This book is not only wonderfully written (it is actually a page turner), it also leaves the reader enthralled with a whole area of American history which had previously gone undocumented. I truly enjoyed this book and have given copies to friends who tell me they found it just as interesting