Please excuse this first-time author’s grin :). While scholarly reviews of books often don’t appear until a year or more after publication, popular reviews of A Thrilling Narrative are beginning to appear!

On 9/18/12, Sandy Amzeen summarized her Monsters and Critics review of A Thrilling Narrative, “Anyone looking to further their understanding of the culture and trials of this turbulent time in America’s history can’t do better than this excellent book.” Full review here.

Walt Bachman, in the first Amazon review, gives it five stars, calling it,“[a]must-read book on the Dakota War of 1862, the largest Indian war in the American West…. a well-written and brilliantly researched gem.”

For the record: I know Walt, but I don’t know Sandy. Thank you both!

Other popular and scholarly reviews are quoted and/or linked on the Reviews page on the About the Book tab on the navigation bar at the top of this page.

If you’ve read the book, thank you for considering adding your review to Amazon or B & N or Goodreads or your favorite book review site!

Why? The 2012 edition of A Thrilling Narrative is a beautifully bound hardcover priced for the scholarly market and for collectors who love to own first editions. But my co-editor and I edited and annotated Mary Butler Renville’s Dakota War story with a general audience in mind. The sooner we sell down the first edition, the closer we will be to a second edition in paperback  for a popular audience and for use as a classroom text.

That’s where your opinion makes a BIG difference. Public Library book buyers consult popular reviews to determine if there is enough interest to purchase copies to lend to their patrons. So posting a review online is even better than simply requesting A Thrilling Narrative from your library; on-line reviews influence many public libraries.

To see what the reviewers are talking about, check out this excerpt of A Thrilling Narrative. Many days, the University of Nebraska Press’s 20% discount on direct orders beats the price from on-line sellers –worth comparing. The coupon code for A Thrilling Narrative is on the book’s Flyer.

End of infomercial :). Thank you for reading!