Customer Reviews

Dakota Diaspora: Memoirs of a Jewish Homesteader

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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.

Having spent 15 years in North Dakota, I was looking forward to some insights into the lives of Jewish migrants to a difficult world. This book describes some aspects of their experience, mainly fascinating domestic incidents well worth preserving. Unfortunately, the book lacks a scene-setting introduction or epilogue to place her story in Eastern European and Midwestern history. What happeened to Sopie and her family after these events? Who are the others mentioned in the acknowledgements? The Rachel Calof memoir, which closely parallels this one, is a model of its kind and can be highly recommended.