Minnesota Book of Days
An Almanac of State History
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
The Minnesota Book of Days is a entertaining and educational day-by-day account of Minnesota history, chronicling important events, famous firsts, notable individuals, and interesting incidents.
Tony Greiner's thorough research and keen sense of the offbeat combine to produce a book that is both serious history and unexpected fun, a perfect gift and a handy compendium. Did you know that the mercury sank below freezing on the Fourth of July in 1859? Or that on August 18, 1929, a 350-pound bear wandered into the lounge of the Hotel Duluth? Or that on October 8, 1956, the world's first fully enclosed shopping mall, Southdale Shopping Center, opened in Edina?
This handy guide explores famous and not-so-famous aspects of Minnesota's history in lively entries for each day of the year. Whether you're a visitor or a lifelong resident, these tidbits about noteworthy events and people just might inspire you to explore Minnesota history in greater depth.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Mohr's ( How to Talk Minnesotan ) format of 366 entries--including February 29--mixes matters of purported historical significance (``On this night in 1985 Minnesota Bigfoot was sighted in a crowd of revelers engaging in a chivaree'') with Old Farmer's Almanac -like remarks (``The cricket season is in full swing today . . .''). One major narrative thread follows the progress of Harold and Ethel Mire as they muddle through mundanity (he has learned to share the tedium of domestic work with her, but refuses to hang the laundry on the line in broad daylight). Another involves the elusive, legendary Minnesota Bigfoot seeking fulfillment (it tries college courses and politics, dropping in at the 1988 Democratic convention in Atlanta). Commercials, similar to those Mohr wrote for the public radio show A Prairie Home Companion , pepper the months, and his wry observations about home repair are joyfully skewed. Much of Mohr's material is downright funny, but it would be difficult to make 366 humorous comments about any subject, let alone a state. In this book, that strain inevitably shows.
