NEW BOOKS: DECEMber 2008

Non-Fiction

And the Wilderness Shall Blossom: Henry Benjamin Whipple, Churchman, Educator, Advocate for the Indians, by Anne Beiser Allen

Benjamin Whipple was one of Minnesota's best-known citizens. In his 43 years as Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota, he oversaw the development of the state's Episcopal Diocese and established two well-regarded secondary schools and Seabury Seminary. In his denomination, he was a force for conciliation and mission. But he was most famous as a champion of the rights of Native Americans. Although his advocacy of assimilating native peoples into the majority culture is now challenged, in his time he was a major voice in bringing the plight of Native Americans onto the international stage. Allen's carefully documented research helps to bring this complex figure into clearer focus.

Champlain's Dream, by David Hackett Fischer

In this sweeping, enthralling biography, acclaimed historian David Hackett Fischer traces the story of Quebec’s founder while explaining his influential perspectives about peaceful colonialism, in a profile that also evaluates his contributions as a soldier, mariner, and cultural diplomat. Deeply researched, the book is illustrated throughout with many contemporary images and maps, including several drawn by Champlain himself.

Fischer won the Pulitzer Prize for his book Washington's Crossing.

Read a review in the Washington Post online, in The New York Times Sunday Book Review online, or on PhiloBiblos' blog.

Glacier National Park: The First 100 Years, by C.W. Guthrie

In 1910 Glacier National Park was designated a national park, and it has undergone astonishing changes in the past 100 years. From the Great Northern Railway's Swiss-style chalets and lodges to the glorious Going-to-the-Sun Road, from the park's tragic first fatal grizzly attacks to its designation as an International Peace Park, Biosphere Reserve, and World Heritage Site, Glacier National Park has a story unlike any other. The book includes several photographs from MHS's collections.

Minnesota on the Map: A Historical Atlas, by David A. Lanegran, with the assistance of Carol L. Urness

The tiny region of the globe now known as Minnesota has appeared on maps for more than five centuries—in the sketchy first impressions of explorers, exuberant promotions of boosters, and analytical tools of planners and managers. This lavish treasury of almost 100 maps illuminates the imagined, real, and changing landscape of Minnesota.

In addition, preeminent geographer David Lanegran offers stories of the fascinating controversies that fueled the state’s development and how maps made a difference in their outcome. Readers learn about Duluth’s port war with Superior, Wisconsin, how railroads dictated the shape of cities like Brainerd, the importance of the state’s first 1919 highway map, and how Boundary Waters maps created a tourism bonanza.

Read a review in the StarTribune online.

Finalist in the Minnesota category, 21st Minnesota Book Awards.

Available in the MHS online store.

Tales of the Road: Highway 61, by Cathy Wurzer

Highway 61 traces approximately 440 miles through Minnesota, from Pigeon Falls at the Canadian border south to La Crescent. Along the way, the road hugs the North Shore, zips through St. Paul, and navigates bluffs along the Mississippi River. While places such as Split Rock Lighthouse or Sugar Loaf Mountain offer well-documented stopping-off points, observant travelers may wonder about historic buildings, abandoned sites, and decaying structures they see along the way.

In this companion book to a new Twin Cities Public Television documentary, also called "Tales of the Road" (which aired in November 2008), Cathy Wurzer unearths stories about these places and more as she travels down the road and into the past, spotlighting famous and fascinating locations, many of them little remembered today.

Read a review on MinnPost.com. See interviews with Cathy Wurzer on Showcase Minnesota or TwinCitiesLive.

Available in the MHS online store.

Wanda Gág: The Girl Who Lived to Draw, by Deborah Kogan Ray

As soon as Wanda learned to draw, she couldn’t stop and dreamed of becoming an artist. But when her beloved father died, teenage Wanda put her family before her art, taking care of her ailing mother and six siblings. It wasn’t until she knew that her family could support itself that she finally attained her dream, winning a scholarship to a famous art school in New York City and eventually creating one of the most beloved children’s books of all time, Millions of Cats.

Read a review on PlanetEsme's blog.

Cookbooks/Books About Food

America Eats!: On the Road with the WPA, by Pat Willard

The fish fries, box supper socials, and chitlin feasts that define real American food. Willard takes readers on a journey into the regional nooks and crannies of American cuisine where WPA writers—including Eudora Welty, Saul Bellow, Ralph Ellison, Nelson Algren, and others—were dispatched in 1935 to document the roots of this diverse culinary cuisine. She visits a booyah cook-off in Minnesota, a political feast in Mississippi, a watermelon festival in Oklahoma, and a sheepherders ball in Idaho, to name a few. Featuring recipes and never-before-seen photos, including those from the WPA by Dorothea Lange, Ben Shahn, and Marion Post Wolcott, America Eats! is a glowing celebration of American food, past and present.

Read a review in The Christian Science Monitor online or read a review on the "Campaign for the American Reader" blog.

Come One, Come All: Easy Entertaining with Seasonal Menus, by Lee Svitak Dean

Award-winning writer and national food authority Lee Svitak Dean provides 32 seasonal menus and over 150 recipes for just about any party or occasion in this, her first book. Guided by the ingredients and distinct seasons of the Midwest, these menus take the guesswork and anxiety out of party hosting with game plans for all cooks: What can be done ahead? How do you get the food ready at the same time? All of the menus include time-saving tips, shortcuts, and substitutions so that even the busiest among us can throw a wonderful party.

Read a review in the StarTribune oneline, or in Minnesota Monthly online.

Available in the MHS online store.

Fried: Surviving Two Centuries in Restaurants, by Steve Lerach

If you're a fan of Bravo TV's Top Chef, you'll love this book. Author and professional chef Steve Lerach humorously and poignantly interweaves restaurant legend and lore with his own experiences, exposing similarities not only of profession but of the diverse characters who work the back of the house. Though funny and simply fun to read, these tales often end in tragedy, as various actors succumb to their excesses. Lerach serves up glimpses of the hard work, camaraderie, and satisfaction that distinguish careers in what may arguably be called the world’s second-oldest profession.

Read a review on FoodManagement.com and on CityPages' blog, or read an excerpt on the StarTribune online.

Available in the MHS online store.

The Minnesota Homegrown Cookbook: Local Food, Local Restaurants, Local Recipes, presented by Renewing the Countryside; foreword by Garrison Keillor

Here are 100 recipes from 38 of Minnesota's outstanding chefs and restaurants with a special commitment to locally grown, organic, sustainable cookery. Mixing the familiar comfort food traditions of Minnesota's roots with flavorful innovations, these recipes comprise a travel guide through our state, with illustrated profiles of each restaurant, chef, farmer, and uniquely appetizing locale.

A big hit in the blogosphere — read reviews on the Paper Palate blog, the You Are Where You Eat blog, and the Eat. Drink. Better. blog.

Available in the MHS online store.

Potluck Paradise: Favorite Fare From Church & Community Cookbooks, by Rae Katherine Eighmey and Debbie Miller; foreword by Dave Wood

Foodies Rae Katherine Eighmey and Debbie Miller combed through hundreds of folksy cookbooks—often spiral-bound or homemade— compiled by groups around the Midwest. Then they tested hundreds of the most popular recipes before winnowing the list to 150 of the tastiest crowdpleasing dishes: treats such as Swedish Tea Ring, Oven Barbecue Spareribs,
Blueberry Buckle, and Party Punch. Recipes are organized by course, so it’s as easy as pie for the reader to find the perfect dish for the long
community table.

Finalist in the General Nonfiction category, 21st Minnesota Book Awards.

Available in the MHS online store.

Fiction

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: A Graphic Novel, by F. Scott Fitzgerald; adapted by Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir, illustrated by Kevin Cornell

A graphic novel adaptation of a strange tale of a man who is "born" 70 years old and mysteriously ages in reverse.

Fitzgerald's 1920s book was recently made into a motion picture starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.

Read a review of this graphic novel on OregonLive.com.

Liberty: A Lake Wobegon Novel, by Garrison Keillor

A national holiday in Lake Wobegon is always gaudy and joyful. But when the major planner behind the Fourth of July parade and the twenty-four-year-old girl who dresses up as the Statue of Liberty develop a close "friendship," rumors begin to fly. What will happen is anybody’s guess as CNN and the governor put in an appearance in Lake Wobegon—home to a good loving people who drive each other crazy.

Read The New York Times Sunday Book Review of this book, or a review on "In These Times."