NEW BOOKS: APRIL 2008

Non-Fiction

American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work , by Nick Taylor

The Works Progress Administration was created in 1935 and it forever changed the physical landscape and the social policies of the United States. The WPA lasted for eight years, spent $11 billion, employed 8½ million men and women, and gave the country not only a renewed spirit but a fresh face. Politically controversial, the WPA was staffed by passionate believers and hated by conservatives; its critics called its projects make-work and wags said it stood for We Piddle Around. The contrary was true. We have only to look about us today to discover its lasting presence.

Fram, Fram - Forward, Forward , by Inez P. Johnson

This is an autobiographical work written primarily for my family to describe our heritage and how historic events and personal experiences shpaed our family's lives.

A Freewheelin' Time : A Memoir of Greenwich Village in the Sixties , by Suze Rotolo

A Freewheelin' Time is a moving account of the fertile years just before the circus of the 1960s was in full swing with Bob Dylan as the anointed ringmaster. Suze Rotolo chronicles the backstory of Greenwich Village in the early days, when Dylan was honing his skills and she was in the ring with him.

Kent Hrbek's Tales from the Minnesota Twins Dugout, by Kent Hrbek

In Kent Hrbek's "Tales from the Twins Dugout," the fan favorite looks back at his playing career in Minnesota. Many stories revolve around the championship seasons of 1987 and 1991. Hrbek also shares his memories of the late Kirby Puckett, the star of those championship teams. Kent Hrbek's "Tales from the Twins Dugout" is a humorous, insightful, and at times heartbreaking story of one of the most memorable eras in team history, from one of Minnesota's very own.

Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country : The Native American Perspective, edited by Frederick E. Hoxie and Jay T. Nelson

"Lewis and Clark and the Indian Country" broadens the scope of conventional study of the Lewis and Clark expedition to include Native American perspectives. Frederick E. Hoxie and Jay T. Nelson present the expedition’s long-term impact on the “Indian Country” and its residents through compelling interviews conducted with Native Americans over the past two centuries, secondary literature, Lewis and Clark travel journals, and other primary sources. In widening the reader’s interpretive lens to include many perspectives, this collection reaches beyond individual achievement to appreciate America’s plural past.

Lucky Lach: Becoming an American, by Arthur Lachlan Reed

This book was written by A. Lachlan Reed for his family and friends and covers the years 1917 to 1945. It is a compendium of his experiences gathered from detailed personal logs, correspondence, scrapbooks, and photographs, and his own vivid memories. Family historical material was contributed by Howard A. Reed.

Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers, edited by Kathryn Kysar

Twenty-one essays by women writers explore their relationships with their mothers.

A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn: The Last Great Battle of the American West, by James Donovan

In June of 1876, on a desolate hill above a winding river called "the Little Bighorn," George Armstrong Custer and all 210 men under his command were annihilated by almost 2,000 Sioux and Cheyenne. The news caused a public uproar, and those in positions of power promptly began to point fingers in order to avoid responsibility. Custer, who was conveniently dead, took the brunt of the blame. The truth, however, was far more complex. This is the first book to relate the entire story, and the first to call upon all the research and findings of the past 25 years--which have changed significantly how this controversial event is perceived.

That the World May Know: Bearing Witness to Atrocity, by James Dawes

"That the World May Know" tells the powerful and moving story of the successes and failures of the modern human rights movement. Drawing on firsthand accounts from fieldworkers around the world, the book gives a painfully clear picture of the human cost of confronting inhumanity in our day.

Traditions United: Celebrating 150 Years, by Katy Campbell, Sarah Sturmon Dale, and Jacqueling Nasseff Hilgert

United Hospital traces its history back to Christ Church Orphans' Home and Hospital/St. Luke's, Miller Hospital, and St. Paul German Hospital/West Side General/Riverview Memorial Hospital. Consolidation of these hospitals in the 1970s created United Hospital.

Fiction

Plague of Doves, by Louise Erdrich

The unsolved murder of a farm family haunts the small, white, off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota. The vengeance exacted for this crime and the subsequent distortions of truth transform the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation and shape the passions of both communities for the next generation.

The Sorrows of an American: A Novel, by Siri Hustvedte

The Sorrows of an American is a soaring feat of storytelling about the immigrant experience and the ghosts that haunt families from one generation to another. When Erik Davidsen and his sister, Inga, find a disturbing note from an unknown woman among their dead father's papers, they believe he may be implicated in a mysterious death. Returning to New York from Minnesota, the grieving siblings continue to pursue the mystery behind the note.

Winter Study, by Nevada Barr

Visiting an isolated Lake Superior isle to study wolf behavior, ranger Anna Pigeon joins a scientific group that subsequently discovers unusual DNA evidence suggesting that a giant and dangerous wolf hybrid has been introduced by an unknown source.