Ghost Dances Featured on Prairie Public

(Not the real cover...I don't like the real cover, but not finding a better one I made this generic old looking one.)

I recently read Ghost Dances: Proving Up On The Great Plains by Josh Garrett-Davis. It really was an interesting read, and if you haven't yet picked up a copy for yourself, and if you happen to be in South Dakota next week, you can buy a copy at the South Dakota Book Festival and get it signed by Garrett-Davis at the same time.

The South Dakota Festival of Books will be held at Sioux Falls, September 28-30, 2012. I'll be volunteering at the festival so you may see me around. I'll get my copy of Ghost Dances signed by Garrett-Davis too, so if you see me there, don't be afraid to come up to me.

For more information about the South Dakota Festival of Books, visit www.sdbookfestival.com. The event is sponsored by the South Dakota Humanities Council so its free. Check out the presenters that are going to be there. Sherman Alexie is going to be there. I plan on attending one of his thingies while I'm there, and I'll try my best to be the most serious Indian while he's around.

In addition to the South Dakota Festival of Books which Garrett-Davis is doing, he was interviewed on Prairie Public Radio on September 10, 2012. You can listen to his interview, which is the first half of the program, to hear him elaborate a little more about his himself. Go to http://www.prairiepublic.org/radio/hear-it-now?post=44545. Its only about twenty minutes of your time.

Some farmers out in the fields proving up their free land.

"Proving up," by the way, is the term that settlers used when settling on their 160 acres. They had to maintain a farm as part of their free land agreement, and if they were successful in their efforts, they "proved up" to the government for their land and had to pay taxes. Garrett-Davis uses the term rather inter-changeably with "growing up" on the Great Plains.