Abstract The history of America, many historians argue, is the history of its small towns. Norwegian American scholar Odd S. Lovoll takes the premise one step further in Norwegians on the Prairie, tracing the development of three midwestern towns whose histories reveal a distinctively ethnic flavor. Benson, Madison, and Starbuck, all located on the western Minnesota prairie, were settled primarily by Norwegians and served as urban centers - railroad hubs, destinations for trade, gathering...