Circle the Wagons: Dakota! by Dana Fuller Ross

First of all, DFR is a pseudonym, one of thirteen that James Reasoner has used to write over 200 books, primarily western "sagas." Dakota! (not the exclamation point) is one of 14 books in his Western saga.

Did I get a sense of the Dakota territory badlands and the Indian uprising against the military defending the westward expansion after the Civil War ... I guess so. Was there a sense of continuity between history and the future of the country ... I guess so.

But the characters were flat, stereotypical and did not engage the reader to particularly care about what happened next in their lives. Reasoner himself leaves unanswered what happens to his main hero/heroine, Holt and his wife Clarissa. Maybe volume 14 picks up their story, or maybe not. To spice up keeping an eye out for marauding Indians and constructing the transcontinental railroad, Reasoner throws in some sexual slavery in San Francisco and a sensational trial; extramarital sex with an Indian guide; and a precursor of Ma Baker, Ma Hastings. None of these parallel plots boosters up the main story.

I cannot decide if this is a male cowboy and Indian story, a female bodice ripper, or a western history for high school dummies book. It is too mass market for my interest and am looking forward to reading the Stephen Ambrose book for some real insight into dealing with indigenous populations.