BOOKS
FROM THE NORTHERN PLAINS
2020
Publications by the Center for Western Studies are made possible with the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities
THE INTERIOR BORDERLANDS Regional Identity in the Midwest and Great Plains
EDITED BY JON K. LAUCK, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH DAKOTA “This valuable collection of smoothly written essays provides another notable contribution to our burgeoning understanding of the American Midwest. The provocative Preface by Harry Thompson and the insightful Introduction by the prolific volume editor Jon Lauck, plus the twenty gathered essays, add up to a remarkable anthology. The authors furnish important understandings of the Midwest as place and geographical setting and significant insights into its social and cultural milieus. The range and variety of the collection are particularly appealing and impressive. Well done, a strong source for all readers.” – Richard W. Etulain, Western Historian
“This is a special book. Its uniqueness is in part due to the questions asked: Where does the northern Great Plains end and the upper Midwest begin? In essence, is there a case to build for “interior borderlands,” the title of the volume? Twenty-two regional experts have taken on this challenge, and the result is a book that rivals any and all other North American regional writings. Don’t miss it!” – John R. Wunder, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ISBN: 978-0-931170-12-6 379 pages, including preface and introduction Price: $15.00
THE INTERIOR BORDERLANDS Preface - West from Here - Harry F. Thompson, Center for Western Studies, Augustana University Introduction - Crossing the Center Line: In Search of the Midwest/Great Plains Borderlands Jon K. Lauck, University of South Dakota Geographies of the Borderlands - Christopher R. Laingen, Eastern Illinois University Aerial Transect of the Central Great Plains/Midwest Borderlands James S. Aber and Susan W. Aber, Emporia State University, Kansas Of Space, Time, Size, Hexagons, Movement, and Memory: A Comparison of County Development in Illinois and South Dakota - James E. Davis, Illinois College The “There” in “There Is No There There” Gleaves Whitney, Hauenstein Center, Grand Valley State University “Nebraska is, at least, not a desert”: Land Sales, False Promises, and Real Estate Borderlands on the Great Plains - Matthew S. Luckett, California State University, Dominguez Hills “The Western Coteaux!”: Hamlin Garland’s Experience of the Midwest/Great Plains Borderlands Lance Nixon, Pierre, South Dakota Claiming the Frontier’s River: Regional Divides and the Failure of the Missouri Valley Authority, 1934-1954 - Maria Howe, Iowa State University Defined By Absence: Where the West Begins - Will Weaver, Bemidji, Minnesota Exploring the Midwest/Great Plains Borderlands in Modern Women’s Memoir Rachael Hanel, Minnesota State University, Mankato Home on the Range: How Community Cookbooks Define the Middle Border Debbie A. Hanson, Augustana University The Great Plains Vision: Horizontal Grandeur David Pichaske, Southwest Minnesota State University Finding the Sub-regional Diversity in the American West: Historians and Their Search for the American Interior Borderlands - Nathalie Massip, Université Côte d’Azur Cinematic Representations of “Flyover Country” in Modern America Anna Thompson Hajdik, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater West of the 100th Meridian: Where the Midwest Ends and the Great Plains Begins Brad Tennant, Presentation College Hiawatha and Leatherstocking: From Native Borderlands to Regional Border Joseph D. Schiller, University of Oklahoma Exploring Midwestern v. Great Plains Regional Variation by Way of the Jewish Immigrant Experience - Mara W. Cohen Ioannides, Missouri State University Where the Midwest Meets the Bible Belt: Using Religion to Explore the Midwest’s Southwestern Edge - Jay M. Price, Wichita State University Beyond Aridity: Historical Environment and Shifting Regional Boundaries Julie Courtwright, Iowa State University Geography Is Not Destiny: Human Agency in the Midwest/Great Plains Transition Zone Paula M. Nelson, University of Wisconsin-Platteville Where the Midwest Ends and the Great Plains Begins: A Survey Michael J. Mullin, Augustana University
Back by popular demand!
THE QUARTZITE BORDER:
SURVEYING AND MARKING THE NORTH DAKOTA-SOUTH DAKOTA BOUNDARY, 1891-1892
BY GORDON L. ISEMINGER
In 1891, surveyor Charles H. Bates embarked on a special mission. Selected and financed by the U.S. Government, Bates and his crew faced the daunting task of surveying and marking the frontier boundary between the two recently formed Dakotas with seven-foot, 800-pound stone monuments placed every half-mile along the 360-mile border. No other state boundary is so marked! ISBN-13: 978-0-931170-40-9 139 pages Price: $18.00
THE THRESHER A NOVEL BY HERBERT KRAUSE WITH INTRODUCTION BY PATRICK HICKS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Herbert Krause was a poet, novelist, essayist, ornithologist, and environmentalist of the Northern Plains. Born in Minnesota, the setting of his three novels—Wind Without Rain (1939), The Thresher (1946), and The Oxcart Trail (1954)—he moved west over the course of his career. Both in his writing and teaching, he extolled “the vastness and the richness of the land, the leveling of democracy, the freedom of action and the independence of the spirit.”
For Johnny Black, the young man we meet in Herbert Krause’s classic Minnesota farm novel The Thresher, his dream of becoming a member of a steam-powered threshing crew has come true. As fireman, he builds the fire that generates the steam and blows the whistle to wake up the rest of the crew. But, as writer Patrick Hicks explains in his introduction, commissioned especially for this edition, Johnny’s ambitions far exceed mastering this new technology, and what he is willing to sacrifice to achieve them is the driving force of the novel.
ISBN: 978-0-931170-89-8 510 pages Price: $10.00
Other books in the Herbert Krause Prairie Trilogy: Wind Without Rain ISBN: 0-88498-045-6 364 pages Price: $10.00
The Oxcart Trail ISBN: 0-88498-047-2 507 pages Price: $10.00
CONSERVATION ON THE NORTHERN PLAINS New Perspectives EDITED BY ANTHONY J. AMATO, SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE UNIVERSITY, FOREWORD BY DENNIS ANDERSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR AND COLUMNIST, MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE
AUTHORS: Anthony J. Amato William Hoffman Peter Carrels Linda M. Hasselstrom Lisa Payne Ossian Barry L. Stiefel Miles D. Lewis Andrea Glessner Stephen L. Eliason Joseph A. Amato
ISBN: 978-0-931170-95-9 215 Pages Price: $12.00
Conservation on the Northern Plains: New Perspectives challenges widespread assumptions about people and nature, reframing understandings of both in the process. In eleven essays, ten authors trek across the Plains to find the people, places, and stories that define conservation. In addressing conservation’s reach, the authors reflect on the ordinary, the extraordinary, and the spaces in between, covering species ranging from horses to honeybees and from pheasants to wolves. Each essay is a call to revisit conservation and re-engage in discussions of use and the environment. This collection tackles conservation issues in eight states and Canada, giving special attention to Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
“. . . the essayists in this volume will help readers understand the vitality and potential of one of North America’s most distinctive and productive landscapes.” — Greg Breining, author of Wild Shore and Paddle North
The Center for Western Studies is the publisher of books of enduring worth about the history, literature, art, public affairs, and diverse cultures of the Northern Plains. All CWS publications are available in the Center's gift shop, which also features books by regional authors and original Native American jewelry.
OUTLAW DAKOTA The Murderous Times and Criminal Trials of Frontier Judge Peter C. Shannon BY WAYNE FANEBUST
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Wayne Fanebust has practiced law in California and served as corporate legal counsel in South Dakota. He is the author of several books, including Chasing Frank and Jesse James, Major General Alexander M. McCook, USA: A Civil War Biography, and Tales of Dakota Territory.
ISBN: 978-0-931170-56-0 436 pages, photos Price: $14.00
Dakota Territory was a rough-and-tumble country in the 1870s. Pioneer settlement had largely bypassed this land, home of the Plains Indians. But with the end of the Civil War, thousands of adventurers made their way up the Missouri River and out onto the plains. Rumors of gold in the Black Hills, even before Custer’s 1874 expedition, enticed many a fortune seeker to Dakota Territory, where lawlessness ruled the day. Tackett’s Station, where some customers paid with their lives, the free-for-all that was Deadwood, and the nefarious river towns of Yankton and Pierre were rife with outlaws. To the Dakota frontier in 1873, President Grant sent Peter C. Shannon as the new Chief Justice of the Dakota Territory Supreme Court. A Pennsylvanian, Shannon brought the rule of law, trying murderers, horse thieves, vigilantes, men of fortune, women of the night, and a passel of blacklegs! Among Shannon’s most notorious cases were those of Jack McCall, who swung for the assassination of Wild Bill Hickok, the Snake Creek lynching, the murder of Civil War hero Gen. Edwin McCook by “ arch-villain of the West” Peter Wintermute, the triple lynching at Hangman’s Hill in Rapid City, the Independence Day murder at Crow Creek, the doctor-turned-highwayman John Parsons,the Indian Ring run by Dr. Livingston, and gambler George Knowlton’s cold-blooded shooting of Black Hills-bound miner David Rauck. “I’ll have it understood that this court is a gentleman.” — Justice Shannon to Defense Attorney R. F. Pettigrew Shannon was “the complete judge—fair, fearless, dignified, and in control,” writes author Wayne Fanebust. Perhaps too good a judge, for he fell victim to political machinations at the highest levels. Making no pretext of objectivity, newspapers served powerful political factions, attacking judges and politicians alike, and Fanebust makes use of these rich resources to capture the sensationalism that pervaded life in Dakota Territory.
LITTLE BUSINESS ON THE PRAIRIE Entrepreneurship, Prosperity, and Challenge in South Dakota BY ROBERT E. WRIGHT
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Robert E. Wright is the Nef Family Chair of Political Economy at Augustana University where he has taught courses in business, economics, government, and history since 2009. He is the co-author or co-editor of over 20 books, including Corporation Nation (2014), Guide to U.S. Economic Policy (2014), Genealogy of American Finance (2015), and The Poverty of Slavery: How Unfree Labor Pollutes the Economy (2017). Dr. Wright has taught at Temple University, the University of Virginia, and New York University's Stern School of Business.
ISBN: 978-0-931170-68-3 340 pages, photos Price: $12.00
“Wright has written a timely and well-researched book, in which he showcases how entrepreneurship has created economic growth and development in the highly resourceful, economically vibrant, and strikingly beautiful Mount Rushmore State.” — Joseph M. Santos, South Dakota State University, EH.Net (Economic History Association). Used by permission. In his new study of entrepreneurship in South Dakota, Little Business on the Prairie, economic historian Robert Wright reviews the state’s economic history through the lenses of its public policies, politics, and institutions of governance. The book demonstrates that an economy that suffers from palpable disadvantages, like long distance from major markets and low population density, will still thrive if it is governed efficiently. In other words, crucial public goods like education, infrastructure, and justice should be provided at minimal cost, and entrepreneurs should not be burdened with excessive regulatory and tax expense. Economic performance suffers when governance is poor and public goods are provided at an unnecessarily high cost. This Wright shows by comparing South Dakota to other states and by examining the economies of the state's Indian reservations. Public goods provision on reservations is spotty and generally very poor and, not surprising, reservation economies lag far behind that of the state even though individual Native Americans have shown considerable entrepreneurial skill. Little Business on the Prairie concludes with Wright’s prescription for confronting the economic and governance challenges that lie ahead for South Dakota.
“. . . an enjoyable and useful book that a variety of readers should find a worthwhile addition to their personal book collection or class reading list.” — Ric A. Dias, South Dakota History Used by permission.
REVEILLE FOR S IOUX FALLS: A World War II Army Air Forces Technical School Changes a South Dakota City BY LYNWOOD E. OYOS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dr. Lynwood E. Oyos was Professor Emeritus of History at Augustana University. He was the author of many scholarly publications, including The Family Farmers’ Advocate: South Dakota Farmers Union, 1914-2000 (2000) and chapters in A New South Dakota History (2nd ed., 2009), both publications of the Center for Western Studies at Augustana University.
ISBN: 978-0-931170-97-3 220 pages, photos Price: $10.00
The population of metropolitan Sioux Falls today exceeds 200,000 people. Whereas agribusiness was once its primary industry, now the city is also the center of healthcare, education, and financial services for a four-state region. Originally the site of Plains Indian encampments along the falls of the Big Sioux River, followed in the 1860s by English, Scandinavian, and German settlers, Sioux Falls today boasts remarkable ethnic diversity, with over fifty different languages spoken in the city school district. Many of these changes began with the advent in 1942 of the Army Air Forces Technical School.
"This is an excellent, comprehensive, informative study of a wartime town on the northern Great Plains." — Great Plains Quarterly
In this illustrated history of the military technical school, author Lynwood E. Oyos proposes that, along with its air base, the school changed Sioux Falls in the post-World War II era as much as the railroads did in the nineteenth century. The radio communication school, where 45,000 men and women trained through 1945, brought new wealth to the community, changed social attitudes about women and minorities, stimulated construction of new homes and businesses, contributed to the city’s first industrial park, and created Sioux Falls’ first modern airport.
FORT SISSETON BY HAROLD H. SCHULER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Harold H. Schuler was the author of several books on South Dakota, including two previous fort histories, Fort Pierre Chouteau and Fort Sully: Guns at Sunset. A former assistant to United Sates Senator Francis Case and a retired Pierre, South Dakota, businessman, he was vice president of the Board of Trustees of the South Dakota State Historical Society.
ISBN: 978-0-931170-62-1 283 pages, photos Price: $10.00
Harold H. Schuler’s Fort Sisseton is the only comprehensive history of the military fort that was established in Dakota Territory in 1864 along the main travel route of the Dakota Sioux. Responding initially to the Dakota War of 1862, the War Department operated Fort Sisseton until its disbandment in 1889. Extensively researched at the National Archives and South Dakota State Archives, Fort Sisseton recounts the military history of the post, including the activities of the Frontier Indian Scout Force and the midnight ride of Samuel J. Brown in 1866 to warn of an impending attack. Originally called Fort Wadsworth, the fort has also served as a ranch, hunting lodge, and gunnery range. Today, restored to its Dakota Territory origins, Fort Sisseton State Park is the site of the annual Fort Sisseton Historical Festival. Besides telling in detail the story of the fort and the life of its officers and men, Schuler’s book brings together a rich horde of more than sixty photographs, maps, and drawings, including such illustrations as a map of Fort Sisseton roads and Indian mounds (1864), examples of Indian agent and military correspondence, and photographs of tribal people, fort officers and men, and interior and exterior views of many of the buildings at the fort.
A NEW S OUTH DAKOTA HISTORY Second Edition EDITED BY HARRY F. THOMPSON
AUTHORS: Essays and chapters by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, Herbert Hoover, John Miller, Edward Hogan, Michael Mullin, Rex Myers, Gary Olson, Lynwood Oyos, Ron Robinson, Betti VanEpps-Taylor, David Wolff, Ruth Alexander, Carol Hoover, Arthur Huseboe, Bob Lee, and Vine Deloria, Jr. Harry F. Thompson is the Executive Director of the Center for Western Studies and author of several revisionist articles about the intersection of history and literature, including a recent article on Willa Cather in Interdisciplinary Literary Studies.
ISBN: 978-0-931170-00-3 648 pages, photos Price: $15.00
“. . . a gift to South Dakota” — South Dakota Magazine
“Almost no topic is neglected…an excellent resource made especially accessible by the topical chapters. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All libraries, especially those on the Great Plains, and for researchers at all levels.” — American Library Association’s Choice
Recipient of the 2006 Leadership in History Award from the American Association for State and Local History, “the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history.” Over 100 photographs, extensive notes, and recommended readings.
“. . . simply amazing…the amount and quality of information is indeed impressive…tells the story of South Dakota from a variety of perspectives in a manner that is at once both engaging and compelling…belongs in all South Dakota libraries.” — South Dakota Library Association’s Book Marks
“. . . detailed, readable, and brings the South Dakota story in its many facets completely up to date, a great service to the public and to scholars working in the field of Great Plains, agricultural, or Native American history.” — Great Plains Quarterly
A HARVEST OF WORDS Contemporary South Dakota Poetry EDITED BY PATRICK HICKS For the very first time, some of South Dakota’s best poets have been gathered together into one book. A Harvest of Words offers an excellent snapshot of poetic life as it currently exists in the state and each of these literary artists has been given an entire chapter to ISBN: 978-0-931170-03-4 showcase their award-winning work. 248 pages Their writing illuminates what it means Price: $20.00 to come from this state, from this region, and from this country.
AUTHORS: David Allan Evans Lee Ann Roripaugh Lydia Whirlwind Soldier Jeanne Emmons Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
Debra Nystrom Allison Hedge Coke Patrick Hicks Leo Dangel Jim Reese
Elizabeth Cook-Lynn Dennis Sampson Christine Stewart-Nuñez Linda Hasselstrom
THE BULL RIDER’S ADVICE: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS BY DAVID ALLAN EVANS FORMER SOUTH DAKOTA POET LAUREATE
ISBN: 0-931170-81-8 95 pages Price: $2.50
These poems reflect not only Evans’ passion for the drama of sports—he is one of the country’s best-known poets on that subject—but also his observations of animals, his father’s lasting influence on him, and of relationships among people, along with the positive and negative results of those relationships.
Natural History of the Black Hills and Badlands BY SVEN G. FROILAND, with a section on the Badlands by Ronald Weedon (includes the S.D. Geological Survey Map of the Black Hills)
“The Black Hills of South Dakota is a forested island in the grassland ocean of the Great Plains. This region is unique from its geology to the distinctive ecosystems within its border. Froiland's book does a superb job of introducing a student of natural history to the Black Hills. . . . Of particular interest is his writings about the Sioux. . . . The biological information section includes the most comprehensive material in the book." A perennial favorite for visitors to the western areas of South Dakota. Book also features the following: Maps, figures, photos, bibliography, appendixes.
ISBN: 978-0-931170-47-8 225 pages Price: $18.00
Birding in the Northern Plains Edited by Ronald R. Nelson ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Birding in the Northern Plains: The Ornithological Writings of Herbert Krause chronicles the high adventures of one of America's most dedicated bird watchers and environmentalists.
ISBN: 978-0931170-87-4 252 pages Price: $8.00
Writer-in-Residence at Augustana University, Herbert Krause was the author of the novels Wind Without Rain and The Thresher. He was the founder of the South Dakota Ornithologists’ Union and a founding director of the Center for Western Studies.
What Herbert Krause brings to telling the stories of the birds of the Great Plains is his love of the rich variety of wildlife here especially its sheer profusion - and his novelist's ability to give every individual bird he visits its own character and personality.
Impressions of Tribal Life WITH ESSAYS BY HERBERT T. HOOVER AND HARRY F. THOMPSON Impressions of Tribal Life compiles photographs, now at CWS, taken by Father Ambrose Mattingly, OSB, who came to the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota in August 1888 as a priest with Immaculate Conception Indian Mission at Stephan. The photo book features digital scans of glass plate images that have been enhanced by combining them with Native American artifacts to add color and texture.
A limited-edition book from Kodak 50 pages Price: $20.00
VOICES OF THE NORTHERN PLAINS Exhibition Catalogue EDITED BY HARRY F. THOMPSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR THE CENTER FOR WESTERN STUDIES
An educational supplement to the Voices of the Northern Plains exhibition, exploring further its emphasis on the historical ethnic diversity of the region and its purpose in pointing to the rich resources found in the archives and other collections at the Center for Western Studies, which are available for study and research. Through Voices of the Northern Plains, a dramatic re-envisioning of the core museum exhibits in the Center for Western Studies, visitors travel across 300 years of life in the Northern Plains (1700-2000) . . . from the Oneota village at Blood Run near the Big Sioux River to the Corps of Discovery’s encounter with the Sioux along the Missouri River . . . from the Dakota and Lakota adaptation of Euro-American technology during Plains Indian dominance to resistance by Red Cloud and Crazy Horse during the Plains Indian Wars . . . from the arrival of early missionaries and the coming of homesteaders to the imaginative re-creation of the frontier era in the novels of Cather, RÜlvaag, Krause, and Manfred . . . from the persistence of indigenous cultures to the enduring immigrant values seen in Euro-American folk art and the commitment to education by the Boe family in establishing the Boe Forum on Public Affairs. Visit this exhibit and the art galleries of Center for Western Studies in Sioux Falls!
ISBN: 978-0-931170-88-1 70 pages richly illustrated in color FREE
COME AND VISIT! MUSEUM & ART GALLERIES • Historical exhibits Voices of the Northern Plains depict 300 years of life in the Northern Plains. • Rotating art exhibitions in the 10,000-square-foot Madsen/Nelson/ Elmen/Simmons Galleries. • Selections from the 1,000-piece Fine Art and Ethnographic collections on display.
LIBRARY & ARCHIVES • Herbert Krause Library of 40,000 books and bound periodicals about the West. • Northern Great Plains cultures, South Dakota, and Sioux Falls related documents. SIGNATURE EVENTS • Boe Forum on Public Affairs brings national and international speakers. • Artists of the Plains Art Show & Sale features 25 top Great Plains artists. • Dakota Conference focuses on contemporary Northern Plains issues in their historical context.
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