Nonfiction

SAVE OUR POST OFFICE! This was the plea when the USPS determined to restructure or close post offices across the US, including 76 locations in North Dakota. In response, authors Amy Phillips and Steven Bolduc set out to explore the contemporary role of post offices in ND. The Prairie Post Office documents an essential institution and includes a history of northern Dakota Territory & ND rural postal services by Kevin Carvell and 100+ color photos by Wayne Gudmundson.

2018 Bronze Medalist in IPPY Awards for Midwest--Best Regional Nonfiction; 2018 Midwest Book Awards finalist for Social Science/Political/Culture; 2018 Midwest Book Awards finalist for Total Book Design, by Deb Tanner; 2018 North Dakota Documents Award, 1st Place

Paperback

First responders, once called to duty, refuse to abandon their posts, even when their towns change around them. They rise far and above their job descriptions, putting aside their own PTSD until the boom is over. But the trauma they endure at the hands of newcomers and outsiders is real, persistent, and contagious. Emergency response is the kind of work that will change a person, the kind of work that leaves an indelible mark. Each person in that profession finds some way to cope with the horrors of mankind. Or, they don’t survive.

Robin Lynn Behl's means of coping was to drive. For years, she drove long distances across the country, across the continent, until she had seen all fifty states and every province in Canada. Her years on the road included six months living in her truck and talking to the people on the front lines. Along the way, she ran into friends--her brothers and sisters—in the badge. She found the other people who were still doing the work she had done, and they started to tell her their stories. By telling their story, she can tell hers, and maybe be rid of the burdens. 

First responders, once called to duty, refuse to abandon their posts, even when their towns change around them. They rise far and above their job descriptions, putting aside their own PTSD until the boom is over. But the trauma they endure at the hands of newcomers and outsiders is real, persistent, and contagious. Emergency response is the kind of work that will change a person, the kind of work that leaves an indelible mark. Each person in that profession finds some way to cope with the horrors of mankind. Or, they don’t survive.

Robin Lynn Behl's means of coping was to drive. For years, she drove long distances across the country, across the continent, until she had seen all fifty states and every province in Canada. Her years on the road included six months living in her truck and talking to the people on the front lines. Along the way, she ran into friends--her brothers and sisters—in the badge. She found the other people who were still doing the work she had done, and they started to tell her their stories. By telling their story, she can tell hers, and maybe be rid of the burdens. 

The Garrison Diversion Project has been a controversial political issue in North Dakota for decades. More than half a billion dollars already have been spent, and a comparable amount is being sought to bring the project to completion. The landscape has been transformed by pumping stations and other large-scale waterworks, along with more than one hundred twenty miles of canals.

By: Wayne Gudmundson and Robert Silberman.

This book offers a history of the Garrison Diversion Conservancy District and the role of science, in what was largely a politically based problem.

By: Jay Leitch.

Sister Secrets: A Brother’s Reveal is a study in regret and hope for dealing with family members who suffer from mental illness, in this case, sisters who are too-late diagnosed with bipolar disorder. One sister is dead. The other is in prison. Sister Secrets is written by the brother, who examines family dynamics—a farm family in the Red River Valley, an often-absent father involved in politics, and sexual abuse—where people often don’t talk publicly (or privately) about mental illness.