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"Dakota Circle- Excursions on the True Plains" is written by our Professor Dr. Isern and contains short stories and truths about my homeland North Dakota. It is by far the most interesting and funny book I have ever read for a class assignment in my three years at North Dakota State. Basically put, reading this book was almost exactly like sitting in on one of Tom Isern's lectures. With growing up in North Dakota, and most of my family still living in North Dakota, I cannot even count how many times I made parallels to what Tom was writing about with actions and lifestyles with how my family live. I cracked up so many times because it was all so true. Tom really has a true gift with the ability to write material twenty-something aged students want to read.

With growing up in West Fargo, one of my favorite short stories in "Dakota Circle" was when Tom talked about the legends and myths of Absaraka, North Dakota. I laughed so hard when I read this short story because I have lived through this one verbatim. The story is about the glowing cross in the window at the church in Absaraka. Out of my group of friends I was the first to get my license so that meant come October me and a group of friends piled in my car and drove out west on I-94 to the small little town of Absaraka to check out this myth, legend, phenomenon, or whatever you wanted to call it. We tried to see exactly what was so jaw-dropping about this church because we all heard so much about it, like it being a featured story on the hit TV show at the time "Unsolved Mysteries". This is just one of the stories that made reading "Dakota Circle" such a great treat in this History of the Plains class. Overall, I would recommend this short story novel to anyone living outside or inside the Great Plains specifically North Dakota that want a perspective on the true flavor, culture, and folklore that make this the best place in the country.