Going Over East

A Raw and Honest Look at Life on the Range

Going Over East is a deeply personal and evocative collection of essays that chronicles Linda Hasselstrom's life as a rancher in South Dakota. Moving through the seasonal rhythms of the land, Hasselstrom provides a rare female perspective on the grueling physical labor, the isolation, and the profound spiritual connection required to sustain a family ranch. Her writing strips away the romanticized myths of the American West, replacing them with a gritty, authentic portrayal of a life lived in constant conversation with the elements.

Hasselstrom's reflections go beyond simple memoir; they serve as a powerful meditation on stewardship and conservation. She explores the tension between modern progress and traditional ways of life, highlighting the environmental and social challenges facing the Great Plains. With sharp wit and unsentimental prose, Going Over East is a classic of Western literature that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the enduring beauty of the open range.

Linda M. Hasselstrom is a real South Dakota rancher who has roamed across miles of grassland with no company but her horse, and she's been thrown, kicked, stomped, defecated on and bitten by horses and cows.

"A ranch," she has written, "is not just any patch of rural ground. And the old saying, 'All hat, no cattle' is more than a joke; buying a hat or a few cows won't make anyone a rancher."

Hasselstrom has spent much of her life birthing, doctoring, corralling, branding, ear-marking and otherwise caring for real cows. "Nobody," she insists, "punches cows."

She notes that, "The jacket of a popular author's book says that she lives on a 'forty-acre ranch.' No real rancher could make that statement." Similarly, Hasselstrom says, "only uninformed journalists could write, 'Mr. Jones lives on his 10-acre emu ranch.' The correct way to write that sentence would be, 'Mr. Jones lives outside town with his emus.' Forty acres, ten acres-- those are home sites, not ranches."