Minnesota Books

Maude Kegg is an elder of Mille Lacs reservation in Minnesota. A well known beadwork artist, she's also known as a cultural preserver. In 1970, she became Ojibwe language teacher to Nichols, then a linguistics graduate student at the University of Minnesota (who has recently completed editing an Ojibwe dictionary -- the first since that of Bishop Baraga in 1898). In this book, Maude tells many stories of her girlhood in th late 19th century. She grew up among traditional people who had almost no contact with white people. Though there are a few myths and legends here, these are stories she was told, and they are part of some daily event of her life. The stories are on facing pages in English and Ojibwe. Maude's stories are good and cast a new light on Ojibwe history, but in many respects this is a book for linguists and serious students of the Ojibew language. Reviewed by Paula Giese, from her web page.

"Portrait of America" was a popular video documentary series in the mid-eighties, a product of collaboration between Superstation/Turner Broadcasting Corporation and Ambrose Home Video. Well-researched, each video is divided into 5 segments covering most unique historical, social, and cultural aspects of each state. Watching such an interesting documentary, each being roughly about 50 minutes long, without advertisements and other interruptions seems to be a privilege in these days!

As a hard-core modernist, I've been puzzled by this whole postmodern phenomena, which, to me, seemed impenetrable, so the title of this book caught my eye. Further, Lyotard has been called the theoretician of the postmodern, hence this book seemed like a good place to start trying to understand the postmodern. The book contains an afterward by Wlad Godzich that I found to be extremely helpful (read it first). I cannot claim to understand the postmodern, even after reading this book, but I have some insight into how it can make us more aware of the modern, which is characterized by a belief in universals and the project of improvement and emancipation of all humanity from bondage. Legitimacy for the actions toward that end was believed to stem from the Idea of this ultimate condition. However, 20th Century history has cast doubt on both the theoretical underpinnings (legitimacy) and practice of progress (how could the modern project have led to Auschwitz?). It is this doubt that created a postmodern awareness. 'Post' not in the sense of following, but in the sense of complexity subsuming and overwhelming the naive (unexamined) nature of this long standing project of progress.

I must say this book took me by surprise. I borrowed it from an uncle via my mother who said it was a good book. Many times her opinions fail to inspire me to actually finish the book in question. But this book is truly a gem. It has it all, history, environment, natural history, ecology, and an underlying message on modern urban development.

This book focuses on North Branch, Minnesota, a town I have been connected to my entire life. It began as a small farming community in east central Minnesota, but today is one of the fastest growing outer ring suburbs in our state. This book chronicles the town's beginnings, its present, and projects its future. Potatoes were the reason this community was born, but the coming of dairy farming altered the soil chemistry and the potato industry passed into history.

The author does a splendid job recreating this history, but this is no mere history book. It covers the natural environment and how the community dealt with (and continues to deal with) growth. Sue Leaf offers warnings to developing this area without proper care for the land being developed. The local ecosystems are in jeopardy if true environmentalism is not fully integrated into development plans.

This book focuses on one former farming community but in reality it could be Anywhere, USA by just changing a few of the details. I recommend this book for history lovers, ecology or natural history lovers, urban planners (or any who face the threat or the prospect of development, or anyone interested in reading a darn good book.

This book was published approx. 30 yrs. ago. Most of the factual information is current in todays energy enviroment.Property issues vs.energy/economics is somewhat the "David & Golieth"of twenty first century.

The essays in the book are wonderful. The photographs are superb. The author takes note of James Agee and Walker Evans and this seems to be a similar enterprise. The subject matter here is the author's home state and region, western Minnesota. The prairie is endless. It suffices to spread out the Icelanders and Norwegians and other immigrants in Minnesota. Holm was born on a farm eight miles north of Minneota, Minnesota. His Icelandic grandfather homesteaded there in 1880. Holm left the farm and made his way East to a teaching job next to the Atlantic Ocean. Minneota was a jumble of accents, Norwegian, Polish, German, Swedish, Flemish. Holm writes that north Europe's cast-offs moved to Minnesota. In western Minnesota brick is Catholic and wood is Lutheran. Minneota was a community born out of failure. No one arrived there who had been a success elsewhere. People came to farm. The language of power and success is false. Although Iceland had a history of losing, it made a great civilization. Bravo Bill Holm! Your book of essays, (along with the photographs in it), is magnificent.

This book is simply amazing.

Walter Ong focuses on an epistemology of hearing, contra Plato. Simply amazing. If you want to know what covenantal epistemology is, and what it means to "hear" God in the person and work of Jesus Christ, then pick this book up and read it, pen in one hand, coffee in the other. There is a lot of good stuff here for anyone interested in Luther's theology as well, even though the author is a Jesuit. There is a lot here for Protestants to appreciate.

Ms. Heywood has written a compelling story of a female athlete (runner) coming of age. She presents her memoir in a straight forward manner and does not hold back. She had a sexual relationship with her high school coach. She presents her story with all the emotional ambiguity I'm sure it carried. Ms. Heywood later struggled with an eating disorder. Again, this is presented in a very real manner. Ms. Heywood is also a very gifted writer. I found this book a compelling read and it should have a wide audience.

This set of dictionaries has helped tremendously with my translation of Swedish text. I'm studying Swedish political documents and this dictionary has been invaluable.

Why is contemporary African American literature -- particularly that produced by black women -- continually concerned with issues of respectability and propriety? Her first book, Private Lives, Proper Relations, Candace M. Jenkins looks at how African American writers express the political consequences of intimacy for the susceptible black subject. Jenkins argues that this fascination grew from recurrent beliefs about African American sexuality, and that it expresses a basic aspect of the racial self: an often unexpressed link between the intimate and the political in black culture.

Jenkins's analysis of black women's narratives -- including Ann Petry's The Street, Toni Morrison's Sula and Paradise, Alice Walker's The Color Purple and Gayl Jones's Eva's Man -- offers a theory of black subjectivity. Here Jenkins describes how the middle-class tries to save the black community from accusations of sexual and domestic oddity by embracing traditionally "normal" values and behavior. Unfortunately behind those efforts there is the implied "doubled vulnerability" of the black intimate subject: racial scrutiny and the proximity of human intimacy.

This book was not an easy read for me. I had a very hard time getting into it. I must say, however, that the content is illuminating and definitely worth the time invested if you stick with it. For anyone interested in Women's Studies and studies of gender, sexuality and class in African American literature, particularly that of the 20th century, this book is for you. Private Lives, Proper Relations is a powerful contribution to the crucial effort to end the distortion still surrounding black intimacy in the United States.