To most people, John Lennon was a legend, an artistic master who was larger than life. But his real story is that of a man--not the ex-Beatle, not the activist, not the hero. Here is a warm, honest portrait drawn by a close friend, the story of a gifted man struggling with himself, his family, and his art on the eve of his long-awaited comeback. Martin's.

"I've known about Ike Blasingame all my life, knew many of his fellow punchers, white and Indian. Ike was certainly a salty representative of the Texas bronc twister when he came North with that most romantic of cow outfits, the British-owned Matador. . . . [He] takes the reader across the treacherous Missouri River as the spring-softened ice goes out under the horses' feet, into the still wild cow towns, through the round-ups, the prairie fires. . . . There is the authentic smell and feel of the Northern cow country of fifty years ago in the story Ike Blasingame tells."-Mari Sandoz"Here is one of the most gripping Western tales since Andy Adams' The Log of a Cowboy was published in 1903. The telling is considerably like Adams'-warm, human, flavorful. The author, a one-time Matador ranch cowboy, . . . lived his story, and he tells it straight in the language of the cow country without contrivance."-New York Times"Many of the cowboys who have written about their experiences never really looked at any wider segment of the cattle business than was visible between their horses' ears, but Ike Blasingame did. He paints a big picture without omitting details."-New York Herald-Tribune

North Dakota Days is a radiant collection of watercolors and writings by Bro Halff, capturing the beauty of North Dakota's land and buildings, and the life-affirming attitude of its people. This book, and its companion volume, North Dakota Travels, portray diverse landscapes and townscapes in one of America's most beautiful states. The prose and poetry in the book bring to life the optimistic and friendly s pirit of the state's people, as well as the colorful history of some of its most appealing sights. This is a personal tribute to North Dakota and an evocation of its people's outlooks and ways of life. The intent of the author's style is a fresh and optimistic look at scenes that delight our senses, and that stimulate our capacity for wonder before the world around us. He strives to let each of his artworks tell a story into which the observer is invited, in sheer enjoyment of the experience. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: Bro Halff is a North Dakota and Hawaii artist who is known for his watercolors and poetry. Born in 1946, he was raised in Texas. He has lived in many parts of the United States and in Europe. Since 1972, he has pursued a career of writing, in several genres, including lyrical and visual poetry, and of painting and sculpting. The central theme of his lyrical poetry is the celebration of human diversity and of nature. His watercolors depict, with radiant colors and bold composition, rural, urban, and small-town America. His artworks have been routinely exhibited in galleries throughout the United States. He recently completed two books of poetry, prose sketches, and watercolors of North Dakota. Another work of poetry and pen-and-ink drawings, Seasonal Delights, was published by the Mellen Poetry Press in 1999. Mr. Halff currently resides in Bismarck, North Dakota and on Kauai, in Hawaii.

"Using the writings of his grandmother, Margaret Spader Neises, and mother, Joan Neises Volk, author Craig Volk creates a one-year diary that details the life and times of a woman during 1932."--

It is known that L Frank Baum spent several years in South Dakota before moving to Chicago, where he wrote the Oz books. This title lays out the complexities and ambiguities of Baum's thinking by providing us with the full texts of Baum's columns published weekly in the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer between January 1890 and February 1891. Nancy Tystad Koupal is a native of Mitchell, South Dakota, and serves as director of the Research and Publishing Program at the South Dakota State Historical Society.

Pioneer Days in the Black Hills is a rough-and-tumble account of the early days of Deadwood, Dakota Territory. In 1874, after leading an expedition into the Black Hills, George Armstrong Custer announced that he had found gold "among the roots of the grass." Almost overnight a number of settlements sprang into existence. Among them was Deadwood. In April 1876, John S. McClintock arrived in search of gold. Entering a series of speculations and employments that won him moderate prosperity, he made Deadwood his home. During his later years, he wrote his memoirs, presented here for the first time in half a century.

Robert Hopkins was a man caught between two worlds. As a member of the Dakota Nation, he was unfairly imprisoned, accused of taking up arms against U.S. soldiers when war broke out with the Dakota in 1862. However, as a Christian convert who was also a preacher, Hopkins’s allegiance was often questioned by many of his fellow Dakota as well. Without a doubt, being a convert—and a favorite of the missionaries—had its privileges. Hopkins learned to read and write in an anglicized form of Dakota, and when facing legal allegations, he and several high-ranking missionaries wrote impassioned letters in his defense. Ultimately, he was among the 300-some Dakota spared from hanging by President Lincoln, imprisoned instead at Camp Kearney in Davenport, Iowa, for several years. His wife, Sarah, and their children, meanwhile, were forced onto the barren Crow Creek reservation in Dakota Territory with the rest of the Dakota women, children, and elderly. In both places, the Dakota were treated as novelties, displayed for curious residents like zoo animals. Historian Linda Clemmons examines the surviving letters from Robert and Sarah; other Dakota language sources; and letters from missionaries, newspaper accounts, and federal documents. She blends both the personal and the historical to complicate our understanding of the development of the Midwest, while also serving as a testament to the resilience of the Dakota and other indigenous peoples who have lived in this region from time immemorial.