Area Native Chuck Raasch Signing 2nd Book Thurs., Sept. 28, 7-9pm, @ DDR Books
June 3 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Watertown-area native Chuck Raasch will be speaking and signing his second book, “Life Painted Red: The True Story of Corabelle Fellows and How Her Life on the Dakota Frontier Became a National Scandal,” at DDR Books on Thurs., Sept. 28, 7-9 pm.
Raasch is a journalist and author from Castlewood, where he still has familial roots. He’s had bylines from 49 states and four continents, and he was a national correspondent for USA Today, Gannett News Service, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He began his career with the Huron Plainsman before moving to the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, then moving onto USA Today. He and his wife and live in Alexandria, Va., and have two adult children, two wonderful daughters-in-law, and a much-loved grandson.
His first book, “Imperfect Union,” the story of a New York Times Civil War correspondent whose son was killed at the Battle of Gettysburg, was published in 2016.
His current book, “Life Painted Red: The True Story of Corabelle Fellows and How Her Life on the Dakota Frontier Became a National Scandal,” is non-fiction and is set in Dakota Territory in the 1880s. Corabelle was a young teacher and missionary from Washington, D.C., who worked in Riggs Missions and in government schools along the Missouri River. Fearless and adventurous, she met — and learned from — remarkable Dakota and Lakota Sioux people, even as their lives were being turned inside out as they were pushed westward onto Dakota Territory Reservations.
In her final posting along the then-wild Missouri, she met and fell in love with Sam Campbell, the son of a Native woman and a white scout and interpreter. Their marriage was met with hostility at home and in the national press. “Life Painted Red” explains how this young couple became early victims of what would be known as the Yellow Press.
DDR Books is located at 7 S. Maple in Downtown Watertown. Signed copies of “Life Painted Red” will be available after the 28th in-store or may be shipped for the price of postage. To reserve a copy, please email ddrbooks@wat.midco.net or call 605-868-3705.