Minnesota Books

Several of the stories in this book had a heart touching feel to them. The tale of his death was expecially moving. A must for any whitewater enthusiast. Great pictures and stories of this wild land.

James

The author's love of wildwater boating and his love for the scenic rivers described in this book gushes out of each page. The reader can vicariously descend these rivers and enjoy the rapids and falls seen through the eyes and spirit of Minnesota's premier kayaker --- The Commodore. For those lucky to have the time and talent to paddle wild rivers this book will excite and inspire a Spring paddle down the Brule, the Baptism and the Presque Isle.

If you are looking for a book about jokes or funny sayings, this is not it. If, however, you think Hemingway was right in saying that modern American writing comes out of Mark Twain's HUCKLEBERRY FINN, but you don't know exactly what made the writing in HUCK so useful to modern writers, Schmitz can show you. The book's title indicates its focus on two crucial American stylists: Mark Twain and Gertrude Stein. Twain figured out how to turn common, vulgar American speech into written eloquence; no American writers before him had done so. Schmitz lays it all out and shows precisely how "Huckspeech" transformed American style for the next generations. And Stein took the new "American" style to its logical extremes. Schmitz imitates in his own style some of the quirks of the writers he deals with, and that takes some getting used to. But the chapters on Mark Twain and Gertrude Stein are extraordinarily acute. This is about how American writers learned to write down what Americans say and make it artful while retaining its gross humor. Important topics importantly dealt with.

The book dares to explain the humor generated from the misery of the birth of a new country.

Ol' Man River: Memoirs Of A Riverboat Captain by Captain William D. Bowell is the intriguing autobiography an influential, energetic, charismatic, inspired and inspiring man. Readers will follow Bowell through the Great Depression, D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge, publishing marketing for Holiday Inn, Oldsmobile, Greyhound, United Airlines and more well known American companies, as well as creating a national catalog for discount merchandisers. All followed by a lifetime of captaining the Padelford Packet Boat Company which he founded in the year in 1970. Ol' Man River is an encouraging story of a man who truly made a difference, highly recommended to the non-specialist general reader, especially those captured by adventurous and true tales.

Captain Bill Bowell's "Ol' Man River" offers readers a view of the Mississippi and one man's life with it as broad as the river, itself. That Captain Bowell has lead a life rich in experience, art, lore, and courageous endeavors is obvious in this wonderfully illustrated book. Not only does Bowell treat readers to his wild escapades on the Mississippi, but we also hear the inspiring stories of a man who parachuted out of a plunging plane at Normandy who survived landing behind enemy lines. His story is one of wit and humor. Truly a Renaissance Man of our times.

I am a nature photographer and have a passion for finding and photographing orchids. Because of their relatively short flowering times it is really essential to be able to know where and what habitat to find them, when they will be blooming and a bit of the biology of the flower. With this reference I have been able to actively locate these lovely jewels across Minnesota. It isn't a book necessarily full of photos (it has enought though of the more showy varieties) but I still highly recommend this book for anyone truely interested in orchids native to Minnesota. It is a much better reference than similar books I've seen about other states' orchids.

Orchids of Minnesota by Welby R. Smith covers the many species of Orchids that live in the state of Minnesota with all it's diverse plant habitats. The book has nice drawings that make species ID easy.

This is a taxonomic over view of the Orchid species that grow in Minnesota, covering identification, what locations or habits they grow in, were in the state they grow (including state maps) with growing locations illustrated, when they bloom and if they are rare.

The focus of the book is not pretty pictures but the identification and description of the many species and forms of these plants that live in the state. This book is for those that are familiar with plant identification and have a love for "native wild plants" It is not geared to the gardener. It is informative and easy to read, with an illustrated key (used to identify plants), species accounts (covering location were plants grow, habitats they grow in and some historical information).

I recommend this book if you are interested in the identification and ecology and location of the Orchids of Minnesota. I think it would be valuable to those that do not live in the Minnesota too for its over view of each plant. The naming of the plants takes in recent taxonomic work so the book is up to date and the keys are easy to use. A book valuable for the layman as well as those with more Botanical interests. It is a nice looking book for the series minded Orchid lover.

Paul Henjum Specialty Perennials

i know harry davis personally, and he is definitely an incredible man, along with his dear wife charlotte (who has passed on). This book is a wonderful read, and details the struggles of a black youth growing up in the early 20th century, along with talking about harry's dedication to the civil rights struggles in the 60's and 70's. A great book!

UPDATE: 8/11/06 - Harry Davis passed away today. We'll miss you Harry. Please read this book and learn about an exceptional man, and how one person can make a difference.

Overcoming: The Autobiography Of W. Harry Davis is the autobiographical story of a remarkable African-American man who helped to shape civil-rights history in the United States. Exploring Davis' life as one of the first black executives in a major Twin Cities corporation, one of the principle leaders of a historic church merger, the founder of a bank, a member of the U.S. Olympic boxing committee, and the first black mayoral candidate to campaign in the Twin Cities, Overcoming is as much a testimony to the results of dedication, perseverance, and hope, as it is the remarkable life story of an impressive and dedicated man within the context of his life and times. Overcoming is an especially welcome and highly recommended addition to Black Studies biographical reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Pie In The Sky: A Memoir About Writing And Publishing is Patricia Condon Johnson's personal testimony on the joys and hardships of writing for magazines, writing books, self-publishing books, and the tragedy of losing her daughter to murder. Black-and-white photographs illustrate this thoughtful and deeply engaging accounting which is hallmarked by the author's tenacity and insight. Pie In The Sky is highly recommended reading, especially by those who aspire to have their own writings published, regardless of the pressures and challenges life puts in their way.

In Pie In The Sky: A Memoir About Writing And Publishing, Patricia Johnston shares her personal journey as a writer and self-publisher. Along the way Patricia also shares her views regarding the 1993 murder of her daughter, Jane Ellen Neuman, the subject of a CBS "48 Hours" television program and Patricia's ultimately successful crusade to bring her daughter's killer to justice. As a publisher, Patricia's Afton Historical Society Press has produced 37 titles (many of them award winners) and has pursued partnerships to produce and sponsor television documentaries and art exhibitions. Pie In The Sky will prove of intense interest to anyone who aspires to have their writings published, to become a small press publisher, or who has an interest in the small press phenomena and trends in today's highly competitive and rapidly evolving publishing community.

This book does a great job of giving a brutally honest, indepth view into lives of Indian women. It illustrates how important context is when explaining oppression of women. Painstaking work goes into giving rich details of the lives of women.

I read this book for a graduate school class and thought it was really amazing. First it is interesting to read about the differences between women living in India, a group of people that a western gaze tends to homogenize. It also shows the struggles that NGO's face, and the conflicts between the bureaucrats of those who run the NGO's and the real women who work for them. I would highly reccommend this book if you are interested in third world feminism, NGO's, and reading about real women's lives.

John Hicks wrote this, the original classic, of the populist movement. It is easy to read and flows smoothly from page to page. It is very thorough and is the most in-depth book I know of about the Farmers' Alliance. An excellent history! Begin with this classic, then read Goodwyn and McMath and you will have all you ever need on the history of the Populist movement! A must have!

Though little more than a label today, Populism once stood for something specific - a movement of farmers and workers pushing for political and economic change in Gilded Age America. Published over seventy years ago, John Hicks' book remains one of the seminal works on the history of this movement, tracing its origins and following it through to its demise at the end of the century.

One of the keys to understanding the Populists as Hicks sees it is in understanding the role that the American frontier played in America during the late nineteenth century. It was to this vaguely defined, constantly changing area west of the Mississippi that thousands of farmers flocked, setting up farms in the upper and central Midwest. Lured by the massive advertising campaign of the railroads and local promoters, these people came in search of cheap, bountiful land that could be purchased with easy credit.

This massive spurt of growth came to an end with the crop failures of 1887. As the rains disappeared and the land dried up, the price of real estate dropped precipitously. The effects were felt not just in the Midwest, where tens of thousands fled the region, but the South as well. Here, the region was still recovering from the aftermath of the Civil War, with many farmers working as tenants under the crop-lien system, which gave merchants a powerful hold over them. Their resentment of the system added to that of their counterparts in the Midwest, who felt victimized by the economic system. For many, their crops never brought in enough revenue to meet their needs, and blame was increasingly directed at the banks, railroads, and grain elevator operators which seemed to be profiting exorbitantly from their misery.

These farmers sought organization as a solution to their problems. The Farmers' Alliance, a loose organization initially founded in the 1870s, grew as members sought to protect themselves from their economic situation by organizing business cooperatives and pushing to use the power of the government to address their concerns. Though tactics differed - some organized independent political movements, while others sought to take over the dominant political structure from within - by 1890 the separate Midwestern and Southern branches of the Farmer's Alliance were actively involved in politics, enjoying successes that emboldened their membership.

Initially the Alliance sought enactment of a complex "subtreasury" plan of government-managed cooperatives designed to alleviate the farmers' plight, but the constant political obstruction resulted in frustration. Faced with the combined opposition of both the Democratic and Republican parties, many members sought to overcome it by forming a party of their own - the Populist Party. This new party put forward James B. Weaver as presidential candidate, wining six states in the Electoral College and scoring a number of victories in down-ballot races across the country. The depression created by the Panic of 1893 led the party to adopt the "free silver cause," only to be undercut by the Democrats' nomination of William Jennings Bryan in the 1896 presidential election. Though signaling the demise of the party, Hicks argues that the Democrats' adoption of many of the Populists' ideas was proof of the ultimate success of the Populist revolt.

Even today Hicks' argument for the origins of Populism must be taken into account when studying the movement. Using the wealth of publications that the Alliance and the Populists produced, as well as other primary and secondary sources, he makes a persuasive case for the importance of the economic background to the movement, one that remains generally accepted today. As such, this book continues to be required reading for any student of American history, though one that needs to be balanced with more current scholarship on the subject.

A wonderful find. This is not a dry history book and it's not just for those who are interested in Duluth and Superior.

If you find yourself awed by the ships you see on the Great Lakes, you'll love the book. If you're interested in the stories of the mining, lumber, fishing, and shipping industries, you'll love the book. If your family has a history in the Northern MN or WI area, the book will add a personal depth to your knowledge of what times were like back then.

Just looking at the photos (some of which are very unique and must have been very difficult to find) and reading their captions is very interesting and worth the price of the book. The short one or two page snapshots of a certain person, ship, etc. that are spaced throughout the book are great, too. And the text itself is informative and not the typical slightly boring stuff you find in "History of ..." types of books.

The collaborative work of Bill Beck and C. Patrick Labadie, Pride Of The Inland Seas: An Illustrated History Of The Port Of Duluth-Superior is a very special and enthusiastically recommended regional history that begins with coming of the French-Canadian voyageurs who struck inland from Lake Superior to engage in the fur trade of the 1600s, down through three centuries of political, economic, technological, and social history of what would become the Duluth-Superior twin-port communities as a maritime gateway to the iron ore, coal, grain, and timber of the upper midwest. Superbly enhanced with a profusion of photography, authors Beck and Labadie lace this unique history with the personal stories of the entrepreneurs who were to forge the Great Lakes commerce into the fabric of American economic and westward expansion history.

BEST little book I have and use alot. Bought it in 1994 and must say it's small, with simple ingredients, easy recipes gives you great tea breads and other bread quickly. A must in anyones kitchen. not heavy like the majority of books on cooking or baking. she's very good!

This is one of those few books that I pull out, again and again, from my overflowing cookbook collection. Each recipe is simple and easy to follow, and takes advantage of both fresh and canned fruits. I have successfully made loaves, muffins, and mini muffins from these recipes, and they all freeze beautifully, so that my freezer is always stocked with healthy snacks and breakfasts for my children.