A Legislature of Citizens
South Dakota's First 100 Legislative Sessions
edited by Dedra McDonald Birzer
April 2025 · 252 pages
The hundredth session of the South Dakota Legislature convened in 2025. In this book of essays, drawn from the pages of South Dakota History , the South Dakota Historical Collections , and the books The Plains Political Tradition and Equality at the Ballot Box , ten authors examine the citizen legislature's role in addressing the issues of the last 135 years. From irrigation projects to rural credit, the initiative and referendum to divorce, suffrage to education, these essays contribute to a better understanding of the shortcomings and accomplishments of a unique institution.
A Legislature of Citizens contains articles written by:
Dedra McDonald Birzer is director and editor-in-chief of the South Dakota Historical Society Press and a lecturer in history at Hillsdale College. She holds a doctorate in the History of the American West from the University of New Mexico. Birzer has appeared numerous times on the National Review Great Books Podcast and several times on “Our American Stories.” She has written articles and book reviews for a variety of popular and scholarly publications, including Middle West Review and American Indian Quarterly . She hosts a monthly virtual speaker series, History Talks, for the South Dakota State Historical Society and serves on the executive boards of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant Society (De Smet) and the Middle West Review . She is currently writing an intellectual biography of Rose Wilder Lane.
