Brian Peterson and Kerri Westenberg, both native Minnesotans, share a deep affection for their homeland. That sensibility underlies every aspect of the State of Wonders project, which began as a series in the Travel section of the Star Tribune. Through their combined vision, springtime awakes in the northwest with prairie chicken dances and unfurling, delicate plants. Tallgrass prairies and historic American Indian lands trumpet the full glory of summer. Autumn colors dazzle the Mississippi River Valley, and winter in the Arrowhead region holds both harsh cold and exquisite beauty. Collectively, their work illuminates Minnesota's natural glories.
Minnesotans are a highly skilled bunch, whether pursuing traditional activities like wild ricing and pickling, or tastefully displaying taxidermy, or selecting the right fishing bait. Skills particularly appropriate to Minnesota-- such as creating seed art or baking a Bundt cake--may be fully on display at the state fair, a prime opportunity to join with neighbors in celebrating our many talents. The Minnesota Book of Skills brings to life the basic know-how that makes us uniquely Minnesotan. Seasonal tips like how to gracefully exit a ski lift mingle with skills your grandparents knew well, such as what to forage for while on a hike. How soon is too soon to bring a child to the Boundary Waters or set her up on hockey skates? The answers are here. Maybe you'll never carve an ice sculpture or build your own coffin--but isn't it comforting to know that one handy book offers just the guidance you'll need?
From the author of The Latehomecomer, a powerful memoir of her father, a Hmong song poet who sacrificed his gift for his children's future in America In the Hmong tradition, the song poet recounts the story of his people, their history and tragedies, joys and losses; extemporizing or drawing on folk tales, he keeps the past alive, invokes the spirits and the homeland, and records courtships, births, weddings, and wishes. Following her award-winning book The Latehomecomer, Kao Kalia Yang now retells the life of her father Bee Yang, the song poet, a Hmong refugee in Minnesota, driven from the mountains of Laos by American's Secret War. Bee lost his father as a young boy and keenly felt his orphanhood. He would wander from one neighbor to the next, collecting the things they said to each other, whispering the words to himself at night until, one day, a song was born. Bee sings the life of his people through the war-torn jungle and a Thai refugee camp. But the songs fall away in the cold, bitter world of a Minneapolis housing project and on the factory floor until, with the death of Bee's mother, the songs leave him for good. But before they do, Bee, with his poetry, has polished a life of poverty for his children, burnished their grim reality so that they might shine. Written with the exquisite beauty for which Kao Kalia Yang is renowned, The Song Poet is a love story -- of a daughter for her father, a father for his children, a people for their land, their traditions, and all that they have lost.
Young readers will squeal with delight as they tour the great state of Minnesota and recognize familiar sites, landmarks, and wildlife including moose and wolves, Duluth Harbor, Fort Snelling, SEA LIFE Minnesota Aquarium, lakes, Minnesota State Fair, Science Museum of Minnesota, Saint Paul Winter Carnival, ice skating, ice fishing, Paul Bunyan, and more.
In 1891 Minnesota established its first state park at Lake Itasca, the headwaters of the Mississippi River. In the century that followed, Minnesotans and tourists from other states have enjoyed hiking, picnicking, fishing, camping, canoeing, and skiing at Itasca and Minnesota's 64 other state parks. This helpful guide to the past in the parks will be welcomed by people who regularly visit a favorite Minnesota park, people who have set out to visit every park, and people who are newly discovering the parks' wonders.
A book to inspire Minnesotans of all ages to learn about and reflect on the ten plants, chosen by experts and citizens, that have most impacted our state.
In 1989, from East Berlin to Budapest and Bucharest to Moscow, communism was falling. The walls were coming down and the world was being changed in ways that seemed entirely new. The conflict of ideas and ideals that began with the French Revolution of 1789 culminated in these revolutions, which raised the prospects of the "return to Europe" of East and Central European nations, the "restarting of their history," even, for some, the "end of history." What such assertions and aspirations meant, and what the larger events that inspired them mean-not just for the world of history and politics, but for our very understanding of that world-are the questions Krishan Kumar explores in 1989. A well-known and widely respected scholar, Kumar places these revolutions of 1989 in the broadest framework of political and social thought, helping us see how certain ideas, traditions, and ideological developments influenced or accompanied these movements-and how they might continue to play out. Asking questions about some of the central dilemmas facing modern society in the new century, Kumar offers critical insight into how these questions might be answered and how political, social, and historical ideas and ideals can shape our destiny. Contradictions Series, volume 12
In this provocative book, sixteen of Minnesota’s best writers provide a range of perspectives on what it is like to live as a person of color in one of the whitest states in the nation. They give readers a splendid gift: the gift of touching another human being’s inner reality, behind masks and veils and politeness. They bring us generously into experiences that we must understand if we are to come together in real relationships. Minnesota communities struggle with some of the nation’s worst racial disparities. As its authors confront and consider the realities that lie beneath the numbers, this book provides an important tool to those who want to be part of closing those gaps. With contributions by: Taiyon J. Coleman, Heid E. Erdrich, Venessa Fuentes, Shannon Gibney, David Grant, Carolyn Holbrook, IBé, Andrea Jenkins, Robert Karimi, JaeRan Kim, Sherry Quan Lee, David Mura, Bao Phi, Rodrigo Sanchez-Chavarria, Diane Wilson, Kao Kalia Yang
This is a book about Minnesota without all the usual tourism hype. It's about the fabric of the state--its investment in the arts, its dedication to the environment, its balanced economy, its educational attainment, and its abundance of fresh water.
