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Tom Isern's "Dakota Circle" is not a history book by traditional means nor is it a book of facts pushed by numbers and statistics. Rather, what Isern has created is a compilation of loosely interconnected stories that creates a picture that displays what life on the Prairie is. Isern is rather insistant throughout the book that life on the prairies is fundamentally different than life out east or in the Rockies. Between its rich cultural histories and indeed treeless environment a distinctly unique culture full of pride, hardiness, and wonder has developed on the vast tracks of open prairie.
Through a series of Isern's experiences and interviews the book takes you through a light hearted trail of what it means to be a North Dakotan, or a Northern Plainer more generally. Being from Bismarck with frequently visited grandparents in both New Rockford and McVille I felt that I could relate to most everything described in the book. Even the line about needing a Nylon jacket with a logo on the back struck me as familiar as I have made the same observations while at festivities with a generally older crowd. I also enjoyed the Chapters describing the origins of the great sculptures that dot the landscape across the Plains. I remember hearing stories from my father about the huge gorilla in Harvey from when he would pass through town often on his business trips. What I found most interesting was the segment of North Dakotan's moving to the west coast. My mothers Maiden name is Settlemeyer, a fairly uncommon name anywhere you go. While doing family genealogy my aunt found groups of Settlemeyers living out east in Pennsylvania, ofcourse our cluster in the Dakotas, and very closely linked cousins in Northern Oregon. I am unsure if this is the result of string migration or a couple just having huge families (which they did) but it fallows the patterns very closely described by Isern in class and in the book.
Another unique story in the book was the wire line running over the Little Missouri River in western North Dakota. Suspended high above stream in the beautiful Little Missouri Valley a motorized cable car is the only mode of transportation across the river for miles. Every morning the kids would take the car across the river to get to school. I loved this story and is something I would like to see. I really shows North Dakota ingenuity and refusal to conform to more traditional means of infrastructure.
In the end I think Isern truly portrait that life on the Plains is not bleak, boring, or lacking in beauty. Actually on quite the contrary Isern presents the Plains as a place full of colorful cultures, unmatched natural beauty, and a group of people that are making place out of the infinities of Prairie. While the number one exporter of North Dakota is indeed its bright people the area has a bright future because wherever you go you will find displaced North Dakotans in foreign metropolises that call the Dakotas home and are spreading the spirit of the Plains.
What I feel would be an interesting direction area of study is to research the displaced Prarie peoples and see how they have adapted to cultures elsewhere and how they have helped shape with their prairie vision in Non-Prairie Places.