Publisher's Note

Joy Baker (left) and Patty Wetterling sign copies of Dear Jacob: A Mother's Journey of Hope at the ABA Winter Institute. 

MNHS Press was thrilled to attend the American Booksellers Association Winter Institute in Denver, Colorado, from February 23 to 26, 2025, where we had great conversations with booksellers from across the country. At the Author Luncheon on the closing day, Patty Wetterling and Joy Baker signed copies of the recently released paperback edition of Dear Jacob: A Mother's Journey of Hope. 

New Releases

The War at Home: Minnesota during the Great War, 1914–1920

Greg Gaut
Americans went to war in 1917 literally against Germany but also figuratively against each other. The US decision to send an army to France came during a tumultuous time when, among other social tensions, farmers and workers challenged the wealthy, African Americans struggled against Jim Crow, and women campaigned for suffrage. This book portrays a period when the North Star State witnessed bitter polarization, nativism, flagrant disregard for democratic norms, and intense, occasionally violent, confrontations.

Book launch on March 11, 7:00 PM, at Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Minneapolis.

Rings of Heartwood: Poems on Growing

Molly Beth Griffin, illustrations by Claudia McGehee
Although childhood may be a happy time, sometimes the process of growing up is confusing and unsettling. In Rings of Heartwood, twelve poems about woodland, wetland, and prairie dwellers explore different kinds of growth. From bugs to bats to  bears, the natural world shows readers young and old how to embrace transformation as part of life. In words and art, this book encourages readers of all ages to appreciate the challenge of change and the seasons of life, and to feel a deep kinship with the natural world.

Book launch on March 15, 10:30 AM, at Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul.

Home Club: Up-and-Comers and Comebacks at Acme Comedy Company

Patrick Strait
Home Club is the story of the Acme Comedy Company in Minneapolis and its owner, Louis Lee, who came from China to Minnesota as a teenager and worked his way from busboy to club owner. Lee spent years hustling, negotiating, and sometimes cutting corners just to keep the business afloat. Today, Acme is one of the most iconic comedy venues in Minnesota, and one of the most respected in the country. It launched the careers of some of Minnesota’s biggest comedians, including Mitch Hedberg, Maria Bamford, and Nick Swardson. 

Book launch on March 26, 8:00 PM, at Acme Comedy Company (ticketed event), Minneapolis.

Events

Twin Cities Metro

3/11/2025, 7:00 PM, Greg Gaut, The War at Home: Minnesota during the Great War, 1914–1920, Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Minneapolis

3/15/2025, 10:30 AM, Molly Beth Griffin and Claudia McGehee, Rings of Heartwood: Poems on Growing, Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul

3/26/2025, 8:00 PM, Patrick Strait, Home Club: Up-and-Comers and Comebacks at Acme Comedy Company, Acme Comedy Company (ticketed event), Minneapolis

4/2/2025, 5:00 PM, Roger Barr, A Murder on the Hill: The Secret Life and Mysterious Death of Ruth Munson, "Totally Criminal Cocktail Hour," Valley Bookseller (ticketed event), Stillwater

4/9/2025, 7:00 PM, Frank Bures in conversation with Cary Griffith, Pushing the River: An Epic Battle, a Lost History, a Near Death, and Other True Canoeing Stories, Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Minneapolis

Greater Minnesota

3/12/2025, 6:30 PM, Kari Lie Dorer, Muus vs. Muus: The Scandal That Shook Norwegian America, La Crescent Public Library, La Crescent

4/5/2025, 1:00 PM, Patty Wetterling and Joy Baker, Dear Jacob: A Mother's Journey of Hope, Friends of the Sinclair Lewis Library, Sauk Centre

National

4/13/2025, 3:00 PM, Molly Beth Griffin and Claudia McGehee, Rings of Heartwood: Poems on Growing, Prairie Lights Books, Iowa City

In the Media

Karen Cooper, When Minnehaha Flowed with Whiskey, "Bourke's Bookshelf: A spirited history of Minnehaha Falls," Brainerd Dispatch

Cathy Coats, To Banish Forever: A  Secret  Society,  the  Ho-Chunk,  and  Ethnic  Cleansing  in Minnesota, book review, American Indian Culture and Research Journal, UCLA

Molly Beth Griffin, illustrations by Claudia McGehee, Rings of Heartwood: Poems on Growing, book review, Publishers Weekly

Noteworthy

Red Stained: The Life of Hilda Simms by Jokeda "JoJo" Bell has been named a finalist for the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Performing Arts and Music category.  The book is also a finalist in the Minnesota Book Awards, along with MNHS Press books To Banish Forever: A Secret Society, the Ho-Chunk, and Ethnic Cleansing in Minnesota by Cathy Coats and It Took Courage: Eliza Winston's Quest for Freedom by Christopher P. Lehman.

New in MNopedia

Lippincott, Carrie H. (1860–1941)

In 1887, Carrie H. Lippincott was a twenty-seven-year-old New Jersey native with an eighth-grade education. She moved to Minnesota, where she created a mail-order company focused on selling flower seeds to women. Lippincott established herself in her new home by practicing innovative marketing methods and developing what we might call today a personal brand, declaring herself “The Pioneer Seedswoman of America.”

Governorship of Jesse Ventura

In November 1998 Jesse Ventura, a former professional wrestler and sometime movie actor, was elected governor of Minnesota after defeating the much better-known and better-financed candidates of the two traditional major parties. He won with the lowest plurality of any Minnesota governor, 37 percent of the vote, on the ticket of the Reform Party, a tiny organization with no track record of victory. His single term was one of controversy, and media reports focused more on his pursuits of money and celebrity than on his policies, which were mostly mainstream.

Forthcoming Releases

Pushing the River: An Epic Battle, a Lost History, a Near Death, and Other True Canoeing Stories 

Frank Bures
“If you love paddling in Minnesota, in a canoe or kayak, with people or solo, this is the book for you. If you enjoy a good north woods yarn about the inexplicable (call it a ghost story), this is the book for you. And if you like a solid survival story, you’ll find more than a couple of compelling ones in Pushing the River. I loved this book, which should reside on every cabin bookshelf from southern Minnesota to the Hudson Bay (and plenty of houses in between).” —Cary J. Griffith, author of Lost in the Wild and Gunflint Falling

Book launch, Frank Bures in conversation with Cary J. Griffith, on April 9, 7:00 PM, Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Minneapolis

Perpich: A Minnesota Original

Ben Schierer with Lori Sturdevant
Rudy Perpich was one of a kind. As Minnesota’s longest-serving governor, he built bridges where others saw impassible divides: between rural and urban life, labor and business interests, local politics and international trade. This book explores the life and legacy of one of the state’s most consequential political figures, following Perpich from his youth on the Iron Range to his political forays on the school board and in the statehouse, and his decade-spanning stints in the governor’s mansion. It examines the qualities and quirks that allowed him to develop policies that crossed geographic and partisan boundaries. 

Book launch on May 21, 7:00 PM, Magers & Quinn Booksellers, Minneapolis

Bestselling Backlist

Rhoda's Rock Hunt by Molly Beth Griffin, illustrations by Jennifer A. Bell	Lost in the Wild by Cary J. Griffith	Spirits Dancing by Annette S. Lee, photographs by Travis Novitsky