In Stepping Twice Into the River, Robert King recounts his exploration of the 'almost unnoticeable' along North Dakota's Sheyenne River, from its headwaters to river's end. With every experience along the way -- tracing a military campaign, canoeing the river, visiting a ghost town and even trying to sleep in an ancient Cheyenne village -- King delves deeper into the river's culture.

Each stop in his travels, each chapter of his writing, brings to light a different aspect of the plains, focusing on Native American culture, pioneer society, religion, war, agriculture, and nature. In the hands of this gifted thinker and writer, local facts yield universal metaphor. An able guide, King illuminates the ordinary from the perspectives of history, science, and literature. Blending travel narrative, interesting details, and poetic reflection, Stepping Twice Into the River takes readers on a journey through time, revealing both stability and change and offering prairie wisdom.

Readers will find in Robert King an affable and delightful guide, a painter of a vivid portrait of human endeavour on the northern plains.