The first and most comprehensive guide to South Dakota highlights the state’s natural beauty and includes coverage of its major historical sites and tourist attractions, from Mount Rushmore and Deadwood to the Black Hills. The guide is especially family-friendly, outlining free or inexpensive activities as well as little known treasures that were discovered through personal experience and research on the ground. As in all Explorer's Guides, this book includes up-to-date maps and handy icons that point out places of extra value, family- and pet-friendly establishments, those that provide wheelchair access, and even selective shopping and special events listings.

Marion L. Head is an educator and writer from Seattle who lived in the Black Hills of South Dakota as a public school teacher for fifteen years. Having left Florida in search of the peaceful solitude that South Dakota offers, Head indulged in fishing, hiking and exploring readily available amidst the natural beauty of the state. She has published fiction and non-fiction in anthologies and on the web.