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Linda's Non-Fiction Books
These non-fiction books cover Linda's life on the ranch and beyond.
What's Here?
What's New from Linda? No Place Like Home --- Published in September, 2009. The Anniversary Edition of Land Circle --- Published in 2008, with new material. Is Linda Working on a New Book? Linda's Non-fiction Books listed in order of publication. Windbreak A journal of a ranch year introducing Linda and George, the ranch, and many friends, family members and other animals. Published 1987. Going Over East Linda, husband George, and son Michael go "over east" to the summer pastures far from the ranch buildings. Each gate they pass brings new ranch stories. Published 1987. Reprinted with a new epilogue 2001. Land Circle Linda writes of the cycles of life and death in nature and in her own environment and family. Published 1991. Anniversary Edition published 2008. Feels Like Far Linda moves to the city but remembers her ranching past, writing of family, friends, and nature. Published 1999. Between Grass and Sky More stories of the ranch and Linda's connections to nature and wild and domesticated animals. Published 2002. No Place Like Home Reflecting on her own experiences of ranch life and city life, Linda writes stories of changing communities. Published 2009. Featured Books Read some behind-the-scenes details about Linda's books: Q&A with Linda, expanded notes about content, information on book jacket photos, and more. Land Circle: Writings Collected from the Land Roadside History of South Dakota Windbreak: A Woman Rancher on the Northern Plains Index to Windbreak back to top Is Linda Working on a New Book?
Linda and poet Twyla Hansen, from Nebraska, are collaborating on a book of poetry. Dirt Songs will be published in fall 2011 by Backwaters Press. More details will be available on the poetry page in the future. Now that No Place Like Home is published, Linda is starting to get questions about her next book. Linda was interviewed in early 2010 by Doug Murano for the University of South Dakota Alumni magazine. Below is an excerpt from that interview. Q: Have you started planning your next book yet? If so, any hints/clues/teasers regarding what it might be about? A: Only within the past couple of years has it occurred to me that I should be thinking of a book, rather than individual pieces of writing. Since returning to the ranch in June 2008, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to revive my old garden, and in getting reacquainted with the prairie. Of course, that means I’m immersing myself in the plains: smelling the weather coming, noticing the great-horned owl in the tree and the rabbit under the lilac bush, noticing how the cows move over the hill when it’s about to snow, how the grouse leave the cedars the minute someone steps outside. So naturally, I’m writing about what I see and smell and hear, about the weather, plants, animals. I wouldn’t be surprised if a book evolved. But I don’t have a clear plan. And envisioning a book is still a long way from publication, especially considering the difficulties publishers are facing these days. Somehow the writer must convince the publisher that a book will “sell.” I’ve always had trouble with that part. I am seldom able to create an outline, and when I have been required to do so, I have immediately destroyed it by writing something different. I write what seems to me important, and then I try to find a way to justify it to someone who might publish it. back to top 
Nonfiction Published 2009 224 pages size: 6 X 9 $24.95 – hardcover ISBN 978-0-87417-796-1 No Place Like Home: Notes from a Western Life
Drive the main highway into your community and remember how it looked ten years ago, fifteen, fifty if you are old enough. What you see is what you and your friends value, an announcement to every passerby of what you hold most dear. --from No Place Like Home the chapter called "Selling the Ranch" JUST RELEASED by University of Nevada Press, 2009 Linda's newest book was published by the University of Nevada Press in September, 2009. The book's central theme is community, with stories from Linda's 16 years in Cheyenne juxtaposed with her experiences in communities of other kinds as she tries to understand how we are to cope with changes to our rural communities in the healthiest way. What Linda says about this book: Without knowing it, I began writing this book in a hotel in Lybster, Scotland, when I encountered a local ex-merchant mariner named Duncan. No Place Like Home draws vignettes from communities I've known in my life in the west, showing how they have grown and thrived and failed and changed. Each of the stories that make up the longer narrative is true; each happened to me, and each taught me something about the kind of place I want to live. Each of these linked stories is part of my definition of how a real community should work. Reading my stories, I believe, can help others recognize the stories that are creating the communities they live in. University of Nevada Press Morrill Hall Mail Stop 0166 Reno NV 89557-0166 Toll Free: 1-877-NV-BOOKS Fax: 775-784-6200 www.unpress.nevada.edu back to top 
Nonfiction essays Published 2002 paperback edition 2005 215 pages size: 6 X 9 $24.95 – hardcover ISBN 0-87417-522-4 $18.95 – paperback ISBN 0-87417-627-1 Between Grass and Sky: Where I Live and Work
Women Writing the West: Willa Award Finalist, 2003 Linda writes, “Nature is to me both home and office. Nature is my boss, manager of the branch office–or ranch office–where I toil to convert native grass into meat...” The essays in this book reflect her close attention to her homeplace and the depth of her sympathy with the world around her. She writes knowingly of the rancher’s life and of the intelligence and dignity of the animals she tends, especially the much maligned cow, as well as of the wild creatures–the owls, antelope, rattlesnakes, bison, mice, coyotes and others–that share the prairie grassland she calls home. University of Nevada Press Morrill Hall Mail Stop 0166 Reno NV 89557-0166 Toll Free: 1-877-NV-BOOKS Fax: 775-784-6200 www.unpress.nevada.edu back to top 
Nonfiction essays Published 1999 paperback edition 2001 233 pages size: 6 X 9 $22.95 – hardcover ISBN 1-55821-887-4 $13.00 – paperback ISBN 0-618-12495-0 Feels Like Far: A Rancher’s Life on the Great Plains
Sixteen interconnected stories paint an intimate portrait of family, love, ranching, community, and survival on the Great Plains. Looking back over her life on her father's western South Dakota ranch from her new home in a city, Linda writes of the joys of training her first horse, lessons learned from a spirited aunt, coming to terms with the death of her beloved husband, the comfort of an old friend, and the frustration of watching her parents’ decline. Hardcover published by: The Lyons Press 123 W. 18 St. New York NY 10011 (212) 620-9580 or (800) 836-0510 Fax 212-929-1836 www.lyonspress.com Paperback published by: Houghton Mifflin, Mariner Books 333 Berkeley St. Boston MA 02116-3764 (617) 351-5000 Fax: 657-351-1201 www.hmco.com back to top 
Nonfiction interspersed with poetry Published 1991 paperback edition 1993 349 pages size: 6 X 9 $19.95 – hardcover ISBN 1-55591-082-3 The 1993 paperback edition is no longer available-- look for secondhand copies or read the 2008 Anniversary Edition. 
Anniversary Edition Nonfiction interspersed with poetry Anniversary Edition published 2008 with new introduction foreword by Dan O'Brien and other new material 402 pages size: 5.5 X 8.5 $16.95 – paperback ISBN 978-1-55591-696-1 Land Circle: Writings Collected from the Land
Mountains & Plains Booksellers award: one of four best books, 1992. With her father's ranch at the edge of the Black Hills always at the center, Linda explores her connection with the land and the circle of life. Stories, both humorous and touching, on travels with George, land issues, religion, women's views, adversity and loss. With endnotes and suggested further reading. Note: Land Circle is a featured book on this website. Click here to learn more about the Anniversary Edition published in 2008. Linda answers some questions about the essays in the book and the mystery of the juniper tree is revealed. Fulcrum Publishing, Inc. 16100 Table Mountain Parkway, Suite 300 Golden, CO 80403-1672 (800) 992-2908 or (303) 277-1623 Fax: 800-726-7112 www.fulcrum-books.com back to top 
Nonfiction Published 1987 paperback edition 1993 reprinted with new cover and epilogue, 2001 206 pages size: 5½ X 8½ $15.95 – paperback ISBN 1-55591-141-2 
We still have some copies left! $10.00 – original 1993 edition paperback sale price only from Linda M. Hasselstrom ISBN 1-55591-141-2 (Shown Here) Going Over East: Reflections of a Woman Rancher
First annual Fulcrum American Writing Award, 1987 Paying tribute to the rancher's preoccupation with the cycle of birth and death, Linda reflects on ways to apply the wisdom of nature and the lessons of the past to the problems of the future. The stories are structured around the opening and closing of gates as Linda and George go "over east" to the summer pasture on the John Hasselstrom cattle ranch on the Northern Plains. With suggested further reading. A new epilogue in the 2001 edition offers readers a look at the changes to the land and Linda's life since this book was first published. Please Note: a readers' guide to Going Over East is available. Click here for details. Fulcrum, Inc. 16100 Table Mountain Parkway, Suite 300 Golden, CO 80403-1672 (800) 992-2908 or (303) 277-1623 Fax: 800-726-7112 Internet: www.fulcrum-books.com back to top 
Nonfiction interspersed with poetry Published 1987; reprinted 233 pages size: 5½ X 8½ $14.95 – paperback ISBN 0-9609626-3-8 Windbreak: A Woman Rancher on the Northern Plains Literary Guild alternate, March 1988 A journal of a ranch year, following Linda and George on the John Hasselstrom ranch at the edge of the Black Hills in western South Dakota. Linda vividly details the daily work, worry, and wonder of one who lives on the land. "Through her eyes, we too come to notice more, and to cherish with her all the fine small beauties of her strenuous life." [from New York Times Book Review] With map and glossary. Please Note: Windbreak was a featured book on this website. Click here for some behind-the-scenes information about the book. How much of the book is true? Is that really Linda on the cover? How did Linda turn her daily journal into a published book? Please Note: Click on these highlighted links for the index or the readers' guide to Windbreak. Published by Barn Owl Books Distributed by: Linda M. Hasselstrom Books PO Box 169 Hermosa SD 57744 (605) 255-4064 www.windbreakhouse.com info@windbreakhouse.com Readers' Comments about Windbreak "Oh my, the nostalgia. Ranching is a way of life no one really understands unless they have lived it. What a marvelous job she did describing the deep dark realities, the heart aches and the joys. And most of all the antidotes around the medicine of all, the smells, the sun, the rain and the feelings." -- Penny Porter back to top |
