Minnesota Books

For those who love the land, its history and that of the families who work it, particularly in Southwest Minnesota, this book is a joy. Mr. Amato's work doesn't read like a history book. It is more like an insightful discussion between old friends over a glass of beer.

He explores the success of the Belgian community in getting and keeping the land while other ethnic groups failed as farmers. "Success in farming is always a matter of keen emotion and varying explanation," writes Amato. "When it comes to farming the land, no group here matches the Belgians." He explores the reasons for this success by talking to the farmers who actually work the land. His answers are insightful and to the point.

A great read.

Candid memoir of a well-off suburban housewife whose feminism emerges after years of active participation in community activities. Her story shows enormous dedication and commitment to "making a difference".

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Make no mistake about it, this is not a kids book. This is a book that will teach you how to help your children enjoy your endless birding excursions and you won't have to hire a babysitter. Laura takes you through basic ornithology so you can answer such questions as, "Why don't they arrange the birds by color in field guides", and "why are the boys prettier than the girls". There are games, projects for kids and adults to enjoy together and there are bird jokes. I can't wait for my next bird outing. I'm going to gather up my field guide, a couple of neighborhood kids and Laura's book and, poof, we're out of here.

For relaxation and enjoyment by a person not directly involved in either sheep
growing or cattle ranching, I have learned much, found many new words to add
to my vocabulary and had numerous hearty laughs while working my way through
this true story. This book has my recommendation for total enjoyment.

It is not often that a book, especially a work of non-fiction, moves and excites me enough to make me want to send its author fan mail. While reading Jennifer Deger's Shimmering Screens, I had to resist the urge to do so at the conclusion of each chapter; only the rush to discover what insights and delights awaited me in the next installment kept my fingers from the keyboard. Deger, who is a research fellow in anthropology at Macquarie University in Sydney, has written a brilliant book that offers an analysis of the ways in which one man, Bangana Wunungmurra, took up the challenge of making video from the community of Gapuwiyak in Arnhem Land in order to reinvigorate Yolngu rom (Law) and to pursue a personal redemption. It is a study of the impact of Western technology in (and not necessarily on) a remote community, a memoir of how fieldwork changes the anthropologist, and a meditation on the ways in which Yolngu and whitefellas can interpenetrate each other's worlds. If anthropology in recent years has questioned the possibility of continuing to write conventional ethnography along the lines of Lloyd Warner's classic study of the Yolngu,A Black Civilization: A Study of an Australian Tribe, then Deger's Shimmering Screens achieves a new model for ethnography in the 21st century.

With the close of World War II, the paradigmatic masculine, myth-like image of the soldier could no longer be sustained. Returning to the domestic society with their memories of the realities of war, as well as knowledge of their own fears, conflicts, and roles in the carnage, the legions of men also returned to a society which had worked admirably without them in maintaining order, demonstrating patriotism, and producing prodigious amounts of war supplies and consumer goods. The patriarchal "fictions" about men were in shambles. This work "explores the way photography functioned within the postwar restructuring of the dominant fiction." Photography accomplished this by presenting images of men which reestablished them at the head of the social structure in roles that were desirable and beneficial. No longer seen by themselves or those who remained on the "home front," especially women, as saving the society, the men came to be seen by themselves and women in respectable and romantic ways reflecting American ideals of individual worth and ability, mastery of one's own situation and destiny, and autonomy. The five main types of images were "breadwinner, warrior, tough guy, playboy, and rebel." Vettel-Becker, professor of art history at Montana State U.-Billings, writes a cultural study of how each of these was created by media photography, and each image's part in making male ego whole and restoring male superiority in postwar American society. One chapter, "Female Body," showing a few photos of naked women, looks at how the eroticized image of women worked so men could regain the position they had lost due to the "historical trauma" they suffered from World War II.

Another terrific book by Nancy Baker Jacobs. THE SILVER SCALPEL has everything---an interesting plot, a likable, resourceful detective in Devon MacDonald, suspense, humor, and a dash of romance.

Be sure to read the two previous books in the series, THE TURQUOISE TATTOO and A SLASH OF SCARLET, as well as Ms. Jacobs' other suspense novels.

This is an historical book about Elizabeth Kenny who was the Australian Nurse who came up with a treatment for Polio that really seemed to work. Elizabeth, and her controversial treatment, was never fully accepted by the medical community. And, that was unfortunate. This book tells of her "radical" treatment for polio survivors. It includes many pictures of polio patients as well descriptions of physical therapy and the "hot pack" treatments. It helps one understand what all polio survivors had to endure during the epidemics. Another good book on Sr. Kenny is the story of her life, "And They Shall Walk" which is, unfortunately, also out of print. But, many still exist and they are well worth the effort of locating to read or collect.

Sarah Wakefield, being an educated doctor's wife in 1862, had a lot more than many of the people who lived through the 1862 Uprising/Conflict, she was able to relate in a logical way what happened to her, without anger. She tells of the way she and her children were taken care of by Chaska and his family. How their lives were spared because of the Dakota family. Her words show another side of the story, how whites were saved by the Dakota. When many were saying they had been abused, Sarah told of care. When Chaska was hanged on 26th December she was understandably distressed, here was her saviour, who she had promised would be spared as she was, dead, through a quirk of fate. In 1997, I and another woman working on a Native American Committee to honor the dead of the conflict in Minnesota wrote to President Clinton asking for a pardon for Chaska, on Sarah Wakefield's behalf. Chaska's name should be cleared. It has been 136 years and he is still known as a man who abused women and children during a six week war. Read this story and if you feel the same way, please write to the President as well. Chaska saved Sarah's life, his name should at least be cleared of wrongdoing.Thank you.