CWS Gift Shop

Edited by Jon K. Lauck

ISBN: 978-0-931170-94-2
383 pages, illustrated
Price: $18.00

Rhodes Professor of History at the University of Oxford Pekka Hämäläinen leads off this collection of new perspectives on South Dakota history with a stunning interpretation of Lakota power in the Northern Plains. With their mastery of the horse, the Lakota mounted “an expansive and constantly shapeshifting Indigenous regime that controlled human fates in the North American interior for generations,” writes Hämäläinen.

The essays that follow take up a variety of topics on South Dakota history.

Edited by Jon K. Lauck

ISBN: 978-0-931170-96-6
403 pages, illustrated
Price: $18.00

In his introduction to Heartland River, Midwest/Great Plains historian and son of the Big Sioux River valley Jon K. Lauck, writes, "Recognizing the Big Sioux River is not only a critical exercise in finding a place in an increasingly digital and placeless world, but also an important exertion of cultural identity, a quest for the recognition of a lost watershed in the center of our nation during an era when the coasts dominate our society and the American interior remains neglected."

By Harry F. Thompson

ISBN: 978-0-931170-90-4
307 pages, illustrated with 100 photos
Price: $15.00

It took over 50 years to make the Center for Western Studies the cultural powerhouse it is today. "Bright, Clear Sky Over a Plain So Wide" is the story of how one of America's first regional studies centers, located in the borderlands between the Midwest and Great Plains/West, grew into a distinctive humanities, arts, and public affairs program at Augustana University.

By Wayne Fanebust

ISBN: 978-0-931170-91-1
288 pages, illustrated, index
Price: $15.00

In 1906, after less than six months in the employ of Emma Kaufmann and her husband, sixteen-year-old immigrant Agnes Polreis was returned to her parents’ farm, dead, her emaciated body showing marks of extreme violence. 

But more repulsive than the manner of Agnes’ death were the outrageous antics of the attorneys, the shifting testimony of witnesses, and the sensationalizing newspaper coverage that followed. For three years, the servant girl's mysterious death, and the trials of Emma Kaufmann, gripped the nation’s attention. 

Edited by Jon K. Lauck

ISBN: 978-0-931170-12-6
379 pages, including preface and introduction
Price: $15.00

Where does the Midwest end and the Great Plains begin? And does it matter?

The authors of essays in this latest collection from the Center for Western Studies believe such questions are important to understanding how regional identity forms and persists—or erodes and even disappears.

By Gordon L. Iseminger

ISBN: 978-0-931170-40-9
139 pages
Price: $18.00

Along the rugged 360-mile border between North Dakota and South Dakota there once stood 720 quartzite markers, cut from the quarries near Sioux Falls and placed there in 1891 and 1892 by United States surveyor Charles H. Bates and his crew. In "The Quartzite Border," Dr. Gordon L. Iseminger of the University of North Dakota recounts, for the first time, the intriguing story behind the surveying and marking of one of the nation's longest state borders.

By Herbert Krause, with new introduction by Patrick Hicks

ISBN: 978-0-931170-89-8
510 pages
Price: $10.00

For Johnny Black, the young man we meet in Herbert Krause’s classic Minnesota farm novel "The Thresher," his dream of becoming a member of a steam-powered threshing crew has come true. But as writer Patrick Hicks explains in his introduction, commissioned especially for this edition, Johnny’s ambitions far exceed mastering this new technology, and what he is willing to sacrifice to achieve them is the driving force of the novel. 

Edited by Anthony J. Amato

ISBN: 978-0-931170-95-9
215 pages, 16 photos
Price: $12.00

"Conservation on the Northern Plains: New Perspectives" challenges widespread assumptions about people and nature, reframing understandings of both in the process. In eleven essays, ten authors trek across the Plains to find the people, places, and stories that define conservation.

By Robert Wright

ISBN: 978-0-931170-68-3
340 pages, photos
Price: $12.00

Follow Augustana University business historian Robert E. Wright as he traces the epic story of South Dakota's discovery some 12,000 years ago to its founding booms in the 1870s and 1880s through the economic crises of the 1930s and 1980s to the challenges facing the state in the near future.

By Harold H. Schuler

ISBN: 978-0-931170-62-1
283 pages, photos
Price: $10.00

Extensively researched at the National Archives and South Dakota State Archives, "Fort Sisseton" recounts the military history of the post, including the activities of the Frontier Indian Scout Force and the midnight ride of Samuel J. Brown in 1866 to warn of an impending attack.

By Sven G. Froiland

ISBN: 978-0-931170-47-8
225 pages
Price: $18.00

A perennial favorite for visitors to the western areas of South Dakota. This title includes the South Dakota Geological Survey Map of the Black Hills.

Edited by Harry F. Thompson

ISBN: 978-0-931170-00-3
648 pages, photos
Price: $15.00

Recipient of the 2006 Leadership in History Award from the American Association for State and Local History,“the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history.” Over 100 photographs, extensive notes, and recommended readings.

Edited by Patrick Hicks

ISBN: 978-0-931170-03-4
248 pages
Price: $20.00

For the very first time, some of South Dakota’s best poets have been gathered together into one book. A Harvest of Words offers an excellent snapshot of poetic life as it currently exists in the state and each of these literary artists has been given an entire chapter to showcase their award-winning work. Their writing illuminates what it means to come from this state, from this region, and from this country.

Edited by Ronald R. Nelson

ISBN: 978-0931170-87-4
252 pages
Price: $8.00

What Herbert Krause brings to telling the stories of the birds of the Great Plains is his love of the rich variety of wildlife here - especially its sheer profusion - and his novelist's ability to give every individual bird he visits its own character and personality.