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The book Dakota Circle: Excursions on the True Plains, by Tom Isern, tells the stories and mythes associated with the Great Plains. These stories and myths are aimed at showing the reader the true, every-day side of Plains life. The title is derived from the author’s observation that plains folk, when at gatherings of any kind, seem to gravitate towards a single room that can fit everyone in it, and form what he calls a “Dakota Circle,” which is a circle where people socialize, mainly telling stories. The book continues to describe the plains in physical terms, alluding to Walter P. Webb’s criteria of flat, treeless, and semi arid. He then goes on to tell how the definitions of the plains he gets from his classes often tend to illuminate the plains culture in general. The remainder of the book focuses on the cultural heritage of the Plains. From the early Verendrey explorers, to bird hunting, the pride placed on threshing machines not only as tools, but as monuments and art forms, the book describes what true plains life is like.
The aspects of this book that I find the most interesting is the general perspective of the book. Rather than focusing on the dates, names, and political events that have shaped the Plains, the author focuses on finding the true essence of the plains through illuminating the cultural heritage, social distinctions, and unique habits that set the Plains apart from other regions.
The only questions that I have pertaining to the book is whether or not this unique plains culture ends with the geographic limits of the plains. Does this culture adhere to the borders set forth by Webb?