The prairies and plains of the Midwest have layers upon layers of history beneath their roots. To truly get up close and personal with this past, a soil core is taken—a representative sample of exactly what has happened and what is happening in the environment around us—captured like a snapshot in the earth.
North Dakota State University Press intends to give readers that same glimpse into the hearts of our books—a teaser and a representation of what a book contains, and what a reader can look forward to if they purchase.
Aristocrat of the West: The Story of Harold Schafer, 1912–2001, by Larry Woiwode.
Nonfiction.
This Core Sample comes from Aristocrat of the West and will follow this brief introduction.
2026 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of this biography’s second-edition publication. Written by Larry Woiwode—a former North Dakota Poet Laureate who wrote a combination of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and the 2016 winner of the NDSU Press POPP Award—this work details the life of Harold Schafer, who was, as Woiwode put it, a “businessman, preservationist, and philanthropist.” Founder of the Gold Seal Company and the mind behind household products such as Mr. Bubble, this book provides insight into the lifetime of experiences that propelled Schafer into his success as a businessman.
This selection starts on page one.
Girl on a Float, by Brian Bedard.
Story collection.
The NDSU Press is proud to present our premiere Core Sample of Girl on a Float following this brief introduction.
“A Distinguished Favorite” of Indy Press National Awards’ Short Story category when it was published in 2020, Girl on a Float is a scrapbook of all the different lives and people that make up the Midwest. Bedard’s prose is blazingly honest and paints in all the fire, ice, pain, and pleasure that makes the plains what they are. A medalist for the Midwest Book and Foreword Indies Book Awards in the Adult Fiction Short Story category, these tales are sure to touch your heart and give you just a taste of that midwestern wind.
This selection starts on page forty-three—a story called “Bottom Dweller.”