Dakota Diaspora: Memoirs of a Jewish Homesteader

by Sophie Trupin

Book Overview

To most Jewish immigrants New York was America. Not many ventured as far as North Dakota at the turn of the century. Sophie Trupin writes of her father and other Jewish farmers who came to the northern plains: "Each was a Moses in his own right, leading his people out of the land of bondage--out of czarist Russia, out of anti-Semitic Poland, out of Romania and Galicia. Each was leading his family to a promised land; only this was no land flowing with...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080329414X
• ISBN13: 9780803294141
• Release Date: November 1988
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Huh! Jews in North Dakota?

Dakota Diaspora is a lovely book which tells of the author's experiences as a child growing up Jewish on the prairie. From Russia to "Nordakota" Ms. Trupin attempts to understand her parents and their motivations for leaving the "known" for such a great "unknown." She draws mostly upon her own childhood memories, rather than gathering first-hand accounts from her parents. I found the ending somewhat disappointing because we don't find out if the author was able to maintain her Yiddishkeit, which her mother was so concerned that the children would lose without a strong Jewish community. A great book for those looking for a good biography. As a Torah-seeking Kansan, I appreciated reading about a turn-of-the-century Jewish family who departed from the well trodden paths to New York and Chicago in order to live on the land AND maintain a Torah lifestyle.