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.

"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

Content warning: Some illustrations and stories depict racist stereotypes to describe Native Americans. Stanford Libraries collects and makes these materials available to facilitate scholarly research and education, and does not endorse the viewpoints within. Our collections may contain language, images, or content that are offensive or harmful.