--- product_id: 12498048 title: "Dakota: A Spiritual Geography" price: "75 zł" currency: PLN in_stock: true reviews_count: 10 url: https://www.desertcart.pl/products/12498048-dakota-a-spiritual-geography store_origin: PL region: Poland --- # Vivid Great Plains imagery Timeless spiritual essays Deep contemplative prose Dakota: A Spiritual Geography **Price:** 75 zł **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Summary > 🌾 Embrace the quiet power of place and spirit — don’t miss this soulful literary pilgrimage. ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Dakota: A Spiritual Geography - **How much does it cost?** 75 zł with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.pl](https://www.desertcart.pl/products/12498048-dakota-a-spiritual-geography) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Key Features - • **Authentic Connection to Place:** Experience the raw beauty and harsh realities of South Dakota’s open land and small-town life. - • **Bridging Tradition and Modernity:** Insightful exploration of religious heritage and contemporary spiritual longing that resonates with millennial seekers. - • **A Journey Through Spiritual Geography:** Explore the sacred landscapes of the Great Plains through evocative, meditative essays. - • **Cultivates Mindful Presence & Reflection:** Invites readers to slow down, embrace stillness, and find meaning in simplicity and solitude. - • **Literary Craftsmanship by a NYT Bestselling Author:** Kathleen Norris’ acclaimed poetic voice delivers profound reflections on faith, community, and belonging. ## Overview Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris is a deeply moving collection of essays and poems that explore life on the Great Plains. Blending rich descriptions of South Dakota’s landscape with profound spiritual reflection, this New York Times bestselling author invites readers to contemplate faith, community, and the meaning of home in a modern world. Praised for its lyrical prose and timeless insights, Dakota offers a unique journey into the heart of American geography and spirituality. ## Description “A deeply spiritual, deeply moving book” about life on the Great Plains, by the New York Times–bestselling author of The Cloister Walk (The New York Times Book Review). Kathleen Norris invites readers to experience rich moments of prayer and presence in Dakota, a timeless tribute to a place in the American landscape that is at once desolate and sublime, harsh and forgiving, steeped in history and myth. In thoughtful, discerning prose, she explores how we come to inhabit the world we see, and how that world also inhabits us. Her voice is a steady assurance that we can, and do, chart our spiritual geography wherever we go. Review: JOURNAL CONCERNING LIVING IN SUCH AN OUT OF THE WAY PLACE IN AMERICA - I have often wondered what it is like to live in such an out of the way section of the United States so I decided to read this book. Kathleen Norris moved here because this is her ancestral home, but she does spend part of her year in beautiful Hawaii not that this part of South Dakota does not have its own particular beauty. Ms. Norris spent summers in this town, Lemmon, as a child while visiting grandparents. She writes about the landscape, the vast skies, the wide open spaces and how once this land belonged to the ocean. Now it is high plains country. The land is so open and treeless house lights can be seen for miles away. She writes of her religion, Protestant, Methodist and Presbyterian, to be exact. She fills in at her church while the Presybyterians are looking for a minister. She has gone back to Presbyterian, yet she is involved in Benedictine Abbeys where she loves to go and enjoy. She was close friends with Father Anthony and other elderly monks who are now deceased. She writes of Father Anthony, writings of hundreds of years ago by the Benedictines. She seems to not believe in any religion, yet believe in all. This book is about a spiritual journey plus more. South Dakota is dry, but fierce storms burst along the land. So many places are so far away from Lemmon, South Dakota, so close to the North Dakota border. Larger towns are hard to get to, too far. Lemmon is far from the Black Hills and Rapid City, an area that is a mecca for tourists especially in summer. The winters are long, hard, cold,very cold. The town seems lonely, yet not. People in this small town get to know each other more than they want or need to. Citizens who like to volunteer are given more than they need or want. Volunteer work is always needed. Ms. Norris feels her towns people are too static and do not welcome or appreciate change and chase away those who want to make improvements. Town people want everything to stay the same. What works stays. What was good enough form mama is good enough for me. There is so much gossiping, knowing much about each other., many people into others affairs. I always thought living in a far away place is for people who want to get away from humanity. It's true in a way, in a way not so. There are Indians in this area, very poor, people don't relate to Indians in these parts. Indians don't much relate to whites. Ms. Norris tries to get them to tolerate, know and like each other. and she introduces town people to culture. Kathleen and her husband work at part time jobs, teaching, library work, teaching creative writing to teen age girls, different small jobs, but getting to know people. She is trying to get her fellow small town citizens to get to know the world and not be so insular, whether they want to or not. She gives readers geography directions across the land where the countryside leaves the east and becomes west, tiny towns with small populations growing smaller and smaller. Young people need excitement, family men and women need jobs. This is high plains country, empty open land, sunflowers, sage, treeless, old country churches. Old deserted dwellings falling apart. Ms Norris is impressed with Hope Presbyterian Church, tiny congregation, members with degrees, members interested in world events. Ms Norris finds a "Benedictine Abbey and a tiny Presbyterian Church in the middle of nowhere absolutely and perfectly complementary." Some South Dakota natives, such as Kathleen Norris who was not born in South Dakota, have degrees, have lived in several places, then decide to return to western South Dakota. Then there are abbeys which Kathleen enjoys. Abbeys entertaining angels unaware. Kathleen has so much fun at the abbeys. These religious buildings with religious fill her with joy, the monks and nuns are filled with fun, love entertaining. I would never believe these places could possibly be. Kathleen Norris' search for self, search for God, her personal walk through life which she has written to share with readers. A great read. I have learned much, enjoyed much. so read Review: A beautiful book - “Nature, in Dakota, can indeed be an experience of the holy.” I ran across a review of Dakota on Goodreads, and couldn’t believe I had not heard of this book before. As a native North Dakotan and someone who is on a faith journey herself, Dakota seemed to be a must read for me. The author, Kathleen Norris, has had an interesting journey in her own right. She was born in Washington DC, but spent summers in South Dakota with her grandparents. Eventually, she found her calling as a writer (poetry, to be exact) and furthered her career in New York City. Like many of us who left small towns and suburbia for urban centers, Ms. Norris felt that she had outgrown the religion she grew up with. And yet, she still had a spiritual longing. In Dakota, through a series of essays and poems, the reader is able to journey with Kathleen Norris as she navigates her spiritual inheritance and finally makes peace with it. “Ironically, it is in choosing the stability of the monastery or the Plains, places where nothing ever happens, places the world calls dull, that we discover that we can change. In choosing a bare-bones existence, we are enriched, and can redefine success as an internal process rather than an outward display of wealth and power.” This is such a beautiful book. Norris’ writing is breathtaking and in Dakota, she bares her soul in an effort of devotion and instruction. I will have to read this again and again. ## Features - Dakota By Norris Kathleen ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #217,000 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #107 in Customs & Traditions Social Sciences #401 in Ecology (Books) #452 in Religion Encyclopedias | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 397 Reviews | ## Images ![Dakota: A Spiritual Geography - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81kObkVxw7L.jpg) ## Available Options This product comes in different **Media Format** options. ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ JOURNAL CONCERNING LIVING IN SUCH AN OUT OF THE WAY PLACE IN AMERICA *by J***S on November 19, 2013* I have often wondered what it is like to live in such an out of the way section of the United States so I decided to read this book. Kathleen Norris moved here because this is her ancestral home, but she does spend part of her year in beautiful Hawaii not that this part of South Dakota does not have its own particular beauty. Ms. Norris spent summers in this town, Lemmon, as a child while visiting grandparents. She writes about the landscape, the vast skies, the wide open spaces and how once this land belonged to the ocean. Now it is high plains country. The land is so open and treeless house lights can be seen for miles away. She writes of her religion, Protestant, Methodist and Presbyterian, to be exact. She fills in at her church while the Presybyterians are looking for a minister. She has gone back to Presbyterian, yet she is involved in Benedictine Abbeys where she loves to go and enjoy. She was close friends with Father Anthony and other elderly monks who are now deceased. She writes of Father Anthony, writings of hundreds of years ago by the Benedictines. She seems to not believe in any religion, yet believe in all. This book is about a spiritual journey plus more. South Dakota is dry, but fierce storms burst along the land. So many places are so far away from Lemmon, South Dakota, so close to the North Dakota border. Larger towns are hard to get to, too far. Lemmon is far from the Black Hills and Rapid City, an area that is a mecca for tourists especially in summer. The winters are long, hard, cold,very cold. The town seems lonely, yet not. People in this small town get to know each other more than they want or need to. Citizens who like to volunteer are given more than they need or want. Volunteer work is always needed. Ms. Norris feels her towns people are too static and do not welcome or appreciate change and chase away those who want to make improvements. Town people want everything to stay the same. What works stays. What was good enough form mama is good enough for me. There is so much gossiping, knowing much about each other., many people into others affairs. I always thought living in a far away place is for people who want to get away from humanity. It's true in a way, in a way not so. There are Indians in this area, very poor, people don't relate to Indians in these parts. Indians don't much relate to whites. Ms. Norris tries to get them to tolerate, know and like each other. and she introduces town people to culture. Kathleen and her husband work at part time jobs, teaching, library work, teaching creative writing to teen age girls, different small jobs, but getting to know people. She is trying to get her fellow small town citizens to get to know the world and not be so insular, whether they want to or not. She gives readers geography directions across the land where the countryside leaves the east and becomes west, tiny towns with small populations growing smaller and smaller. Young people need excitement, family men and women need jobs. This is high plains country, empty open land, sunflowers, sage, treeless, old country churches. Old deserted dwellings falling apart. Ms Norris is impressed with Hope Presbyterian Church, tiny congregation, members with degrees, members interested in world events. Ms Norris finds a "Benedictine Abbey and a tiny Presbyterian Church in the middle of nowhere absolutely and perfectly complementary." Some South Dakota natives, such as Kathleen Norris who was not born in South Dakota, have degrees, have lived in several places, then decide to return to western South Dakota. Then there are abbeys which Kathleen enjoys. Abbeys entertaining angels unaware. Kathleen has so much fun at the abbeys. These religious buildings with religious fill her with joy, the monks and nuns are filled with fun, love entertaining. I would never believe these places could possibly be. Kathleen Norris' search for self, search for God, her personal walk through life which she has written to share with readers. A great read. I have learned much, enjoyed much. so read ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A beautiful book *by S***S on March 10, 2013* “Nature, in Dakota, can indeed be an experience of the holy.” I ran across a review of Dakota on Goodreads, and couldn’t believe I had not heard of this book before. As a native North Dakotan and someone who is on a faith journey herself, Dakota seemed to be a must read for me. The author, Kathleen Norris, has had an interesting journey in her own right. She was born in Washington DC, but spent summers in South Dakota with her grandparents. Eventually, she found her calling as a writer (poetry, to be exact) and furthered her career in New York City. Like many of us who left small towns and suburbia for urban centers, Ms. Norris felt that she had outgrown the religion she grew up with. And yet, she still had a spiritual longing. In Dakota, through a series of essays and poems, the reader is able to journey with Kathleen Norris as she navigates her spiritual inheritance and finally makes peace with it. “Ironically, it is in choosing the stability of the monastery or the Plains, places where nothing ever happens, places the world calls dull, that we discover that we can change. In choosing a bare-bones existence, we are enriched, and can redefine success as an internal process rather than an outward display of wealth and power.” This is such a beautiful book. Norris’ writing is breathtaking and in Dakota, she bares her soul in an effort of devotion and instruction. I will have to read this again and again. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ From the Big Apple to Lemmon-a moving journey. *by J***D on March 4, 2001* This was one of the most enjoyable and stimulating reads I have had for a long time. It is doubtful whether any other reader of this book is so far removed, geographically, from Lemmon, South Dakota, (where the author Kathleen Norris lives), as myself. Yet, living in the open spaces of the wheatbelt in Western Australia allows me to probably identify with the author's situation more than a New Yorker (and NY city is where Norris relocated from - back to her family roots in SD). Her instinctive knowledge and portraits of small town life is applicable not only to her own patch, in the far northwest of SD, but also, in so many respects, to other lands. Kathleen Norris gives a nice blend of Dakotan history-interwoven with topical,personal and spiritual issues. The chapter on the small church at Hope gives a great insight into the dynamics of a small farming/ranching community. 'Getting to Hope' filled me with the same. Presumably, the great colour picture on the cover of 'Dakota' was of this prairie church that somehow typifies the spiritual geography,described by Norris in her text. The author's ecumenical bent is obvious by the fact that, although solidly Protestant, she values the monastic life and, as a Benedictine oblate, she takes the reader with her, 'on retreat,' behind the walls, giving a realistic appraisal of the community of Catholic monks and making some interesting comparisons between monastic life and that of small towns. Visiting 'the Big Apple' Norris is told by a dying friend, " I like the person you are becoming...those monks are good for you. Don't let them forget me." Norris notes:" Suddenly I saw...what monks are for. Their hospitality allowed us to say our goodbyes and allowed my friend a chance to bless me and charge me with keeping her memory." Any lingering notions that Norris had of monks being an anachronism went out the window and into the Manhattan night! In a sense, 'Dakota'did much the same for me. I read it in mid- January as I spent time in my parents home, usually alone, cleaning up after my step-father's death (on Christmas Day). Birth, death, new life are important subjects and Norris has the ability and strength of writing to gently make her reader reflect on these great issues. She writes for all, yet writes for one. (I suppose it is appropriate that I write this review on my birthday). In writing this book Norris has crossed many boundaries-far wider than the Great Plains. She has not made me want to visit South Dakota- I have wanted to do that for a long time- but she has ensured that when I do I will certainly take-in her remote part of the state. However, one doesn't have to physically travel to Dakota to make a great journey- that happens when you commence to read this book. Highly recommended. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.pl/products/12498048-dakota-a-spiritual-geography](https://www.desertcart.pl/products/12498048-dakota-a-spiritual-geography) --- *Product available on Desertcart Poland* *Store origin: PL* *Last updated: 2026-10-28*