Pacing Dakota

Pacing Dakota is a collection of essays reflecting on the history and culture of the Great Plains of North America. The author, with more than forty years as a working historian and regional author, transitions from the close confines of historical archives into the prairie landscapes of the northern plains. Pacing Dakota speaks with the mingled voices of scholarly historian, outdoor sportsman, culinary enthusiast, lifelong Lutheran, and prairie farmboy. The author prowls prairie churches, finds forgotten artifacts, and gathers cherished stories from Williston to Wahpeton and points beyond. He situates his encounters along the way into the canon of literary and historical writing on the prairies. In the end, he speaks for a generation committed to making a good life in this place.Publisher's Cataloging-In-Publication Data (Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.) Names: Isern, Thomas D. (Thomas Dean), 1952- Title: Pacing Dakota / by Thomas D. Isern.Description: First edition. | Fargo, ND : North Dakota State University Press, [2018] | Includes index.Identifiers: ISBN 9781946163066 Subjects: LCSH: Great Plains--History. | Great Plains--Social life and customs. | North Dakota--History. | North Dakota--Social life and customs. | Isern, Thomas D. (Thomas Dean), 1952---Homes and haunts. | BISAC: HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI) | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Personal Memoirs. | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical.Classification: LCC F591 .I84 2018 | DDC 978--dc23

Thomas D. (Tom) Isern is Professor of History & University Distinguished Professor, North Dakota State University. His academic specialty is the history and folklore of the Great Plains of North America, his research and teaching comprising both the American plains and the Canadian prairies. He is the author or co-author of six books, including Dakota Circle: Excursions on the True Plains, published by the Institute for Regional Studies (forerunner of North Dakota State University Press).Isern is best known within the region of the northern plains as the author of Plains Folk, the radio feature he reads weekly to a statewide audience on Prairie Public.A native of western Kansas, he holds a BA degree from Bethany College as well as MA and PhD degrees from Oklahoma State University. Prior to coming to NDSU in 1992, he served eleven years on the faculty of Emporia State University, Kansas.Isern is married to historian and publisher Suzzanne Kelley. They happily boast of four adult children and eight grandchildren and shamelessly dote upon a beagle and a Labrador retriever. Together, too, they share offshore research interests in New Zealand and Australia.