A year ago I wrote about my project to update The Williston Report, published in 1958 right after the first oil boom in western North Dakota.

That project has kept me busy, but I’ve finally submitted the manuscript to the Digital Press at the University of North Dakota. I hope to hear back with peer reviewers’ comments in six or eight weeks. (It’s a 500-page manuscript. The reviewers can take their time.)

In the meantime, I’m planning — finally! — to post more about what makes the 2008-14 boom interesting, especially in comparison to the 1950s boom. I plan to post highlights of each chapter, starting with the two introductions (mine from 2018 and that of the authors of the original report from 1958). But first, the table of contents:

Section I. Introduction

Chapter 1. Introduction: Sixty Years of Boom and Bust (2018), by Kyle Conway
Chapter 2. Introduction and Summary (1958), by Bernt L. Wills, Ross B. Talbot, Samuel C. Kelley, Jr., and Robert B. Campbell

Section II. Physical Geography

Chapter 3. Physical Attributes of the Area (1958), by Bernt L. Wills
Chapter 4. The Geographic Setting of the Bakken Oil Shale Play (2018), by Bradley C. Rundquist and Gregory S. Vandeberg

Section III. Politics

Chapter 5. Political Impact (1958), by Ross B. Talbot
Chapter 6. Political Impacts of Oil in an Era of Sustainability (2018), by Andrea Olive

Section IV. Economy

Chapter 7. The Economic Impact of Oil Development (1958), by Samuel C. Kelley, Jr.
Chapter 8. The Economic Consequences of Oil Development (2018), by David Flynn

Section V. Social Change

Chapter 9. Social Change in the Basin (1958), by Robert B. Campbell
Chapter 10. Social Impacts of Oil Development (2018), by Rick Ruddell and Heather Ray
Chapter 11. Making Home in the Bakken Oil Patch (2018), by William Caraher, Bret Weber, and Richard Rothaus
Chapter 12. Drinking, Drugs, and Long Waits: Community Members’ Perceptions of Living in a North Dakotan Boomtown (2018), by Karin L. Becker
Chapter 13. Boomtown Bias: Reflections on the Past, Present, and Future of Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in North Dakota (2018), by Nikki Berg Burin

Section VI. Conclusion

Chapter 14. Conclusion: Reading The Williston Report Sixty Years Later (2018), by Kyle Conway

Section VII. Appendices

Appendix A: Methodology Note (1958)
Appendix B: Supplementary Tables (1958)