Minnesota Books

For the Twin Cities and surrounding area, this is the best map book of it's kind. It has sections describing many of the important sites, great downtown maps for Minneapolis and St. Paul plus a number of the smaller cites and towns near by. It has nice color detail, zip codes and easy to use directions for finding places of interest.

I read this collection of noir fiction set in Minneapolis and St. Paul, and absolutely love it, especially because I've also read Manhattan Noir, and enjoyed comparing how the Manhattan Noir writers and the Twin Cities Noir writers defined "noir." There's definitely an absurd, Midwestern sensibility to these stories, which I enjoyed. what really impressed me as well was that all the stories were strong, even though some of them were written by previously unpublished fiction writers. I'm glad that Akashic was able to brilliantly reveal the noir aspects behind the facade of Midwestern reticence and kindness in these short stories that anyone who understands the Midwest or would like to better understand the Midwest should read.

Picked this up on a whim at a local book store; after reading this gem I certainly don't regret the purchase! Author Dave Kenney has pieced together what amounts to a relatively-unknown story of the moving picture show in Minnesota's metro area.

Using a collection of periodical clippings and other material that had, until recently, been stowed away in the back rooms of the Minnesota Historical Society, the author constructs a surprisingly detailed time line of the cities' theatre history from the advent of commercial film itself in the 1890s, right on up to the turn of the 21st century. From the downtown palaces of the 1920s, to the stadium seating of today's megaplexes, Kenney not only chronicles the rise and fall of several cinematic eras, but also gives a glimpse into the lives of the people who brought them to life. One especially appreciated aspect of the book are the dozens of "Feature Presentation" insets that provide a full profile of notable theatres around the metro, such as the Uptown, the Riverview, the two Shuberts, or even such oddities like the short-lived Jerry Lewis Cinema. The social effects of the movie business, and other associated Hollywood glamor, on Twin Citians is touched on throughout each decade.

Kenney paints a genuinely interesting historical picture with lively prose and a more casual narrative method. The book generally has a good flow to it as a result. The only shortfall, in my opinion, is that some sections are slightly disjointed. It's very apparent that the author used salvaged media clippings as his primary source when one historical anecdote will stop quite suddenly, and another completely unrelated story will follow; Kenney simply didn't have enough information to fill the gaps. One example is a reprinted 1923 letter from the St. Paul Society for Prevention of Cruelty detailing the objection to the use of animals as a promotional tactic. No intro, no follow-up, just the reprinted letter, out of the blue - followed immediately after by a detailed story of racism issues in certain St. Paul theatres. Random inserts like this, though they seldom occur, are a bit jarring, to say the least!

"Picture Show" has helped me to see my hometown's theatrical variety in a new light. I have an irresistible impulse to seek out the theatres he highlit and buy a ticket to their current offerings - more as an excuse to examine their amenities and absorb their history. I highly recommend this title to all movie buffs - especially if you're a native Twin Citian!

I don't have the right to upload images of the dust jacket, but this has the blue and red graphic on the front, with a sepia-toned image of a fair below, and a bluish-tinged steamboat landing above. The actual authors as printed are Lucile M. Kane and Alan Ominsky. It is a hardback book, a little larger than letter-sized paper (quarto).

Broken out into different time periods, it addresses the history of the Twin Cities from when the first Europeans found it and started trying to take advantage of the falls of St. Anthony (where the Minneapolis milling district rose to national leadership) to the landings at St. Paul, the uppermost navigable part of the Mississippi river.

The edition I have ended in the 1980s, it would be nice to see it brought back and re-released in a new revision with better images. I think the limitations of printing and imaging technology resulted in some older photographs not being rendered very well.

While this is a pictorial history, and includes artwork and posters as well as photographs, there are textual introductions to each era that the book is divided in. You don't necessarily get an in-depth knowledge of a particular time or entity (such as the Twin Cities Rapid Transit streetcar system), but you get a broad sampling of many noteworthy things.

For those who are web-saavy, it is worth knowing that many of the photos in this book are not ones digitized by the Minnesota Historical Society for their on-line photographic collection.

Besides being very informative on aspects like academics and safety and security, this guidebook also has a lot to say about the culture of the school and surrounding area. I think details really make this book stand out, like the Inside Scoop, all the student quotes, and grades given to each section. It was great to find info on dining and housing (on and off campus), transportation, and all the stuff in between.

Our usual image of the Scandinavian immigrant is that of the Minnesota farmer. This isn't just because of Garrison Keillor. Most of the history books about Scandinavian Americans have been writtten at Lutheran colleges in the Midwest, and they focus almost entirely on the Midwestern experience. Yet as Jennifer Eastman Attebery points out in this book, by 1920 some 20% of Swedish Americans were living in the West. Even in the Pacific Northwest, where there is a major Scandinavian museum, there have been very few books written on the western Scandinavian experience, and there is basically nothing about Scandinavians in the Rocky Mountain states. Attebery, based at Idaho State University, has been working to fill this void, and this book is a major contribution. In the West Swedes took part in all the adventures of the frontier: prospecting and mining, building railroads, cutting timber, cowboying. Their stories are far more diverse and entertaining than those of Midwestern farmers. Attebery tells their stories through their letters. This is a scholarly book, so the opening discussion of methodology may be a bit abstract for the general reader. But then she offers chapters organized around different aspects of immigrant experience, such as work, religion, and community, chapters offering an interesting cast of characters and stories. A 70-page appendix offers the actual letters.

URBAN PLANNING TODAY is part magazine, part newsletter, and part book report on the latest problems and debates facing urban planning. Here various contributors provide articles on projects from different backgrounds and goals in urban and regional planning, juxtaposing development strategies and issues with criticism and legal notes. Any with an interest in successes, failures, and evolving perspectives will welcome this addition to a college-level collection strong in urban studies.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

There are secrets buried in these elegant pages. At least one of the lithographs of Mr. Lewis has been decried as fanciful. It is not. What historians claims does not exist is in this book. THe truth is coming out. Mr. Lewis will be revered as a final witness to the one of the most amazing secrets of American history when it does

This book chronicles in letters and missives, from all the parties concerned, the genesis, evolution, and eventual completion of Verdi's masterpice, Aida.

Busch's massive work (over 650 pages) collates a huge amount of material, that any musicologist, student of opera, University voice teacher, or devotee of this opera would be pleased to have on their shelves.
First printed in 1978 by the [ahem!] University of Minnesota Press, the work has been out of print for some time. This reviewer would strongly encourage it's reprinting, for serious music lovers everywhere.

This is a very compelling book that shows how financial markets of many types are created through politicized processes of discourse, court challenges, and regulatory regimes. What is particularly useful about this book is that the author does not just stake out an interesting argument, she also provides a good deal of evidence to make her case. For example, she charts how different forms of finance are made distinct from "gambling" through discourse, regulation, and court decisions.