Publisher's Note

MNHS Press authors Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl and Heid E. Erdrich in conversation at Birchbark Bizhiw on February 13.

Celebrate Women’s History Month with MNHS Press! We have many good books to recommend, including the first-person narratives of Daughters of Arraweelo: Stories of Somali Women by Ayaan Adan; scholarly accounts of the roles of immigrant women in shaping community in Norwegian American Women: Migration, Communities, and Identities, edited by Betty A. Bergland and Lori Ann Lahlum; the inspirational legacy of generations of women within Staring Down the Tiger: Stories of Hmong American Women, edited by Pa Der Vang; the dramatic experiences of women discovering their own potential in their country’s time of need in A Woman’s War, Too: Women at Work During World War II by Virginia Wright-Peterson; and many more.

New Releases

March 2024: Sneak a peek at some of the marvelous interiors of our new children's book!

Oskar's Voyage

Story by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrations by Kayla Harren
A tiny chipmunk named Oskar accidentally stows away on an enormous Great Lakes freighter. Can he survive an epic trip—and find his way back home? Young readers will enjoy exploring alongside an endearing and frolicsome main character even while they learn about big ships and commercial lake transportation.

Events

Twin Cities Metro

3/16/2024, David La Vaque, Tourney Time: Stories from the Minnesota Boys' State Hockey Tournament, Revised and Expanded, Rosemount Area Writers Festival

3/16/2024, 10:30 AM, story by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrations by Kayla Harren, Oskar's Voyage, Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul

4/4/2024, 6:00 PM, Roger Barr, A Murder on the Hill: The Secret Life and Mysterious Death of Ruth Munson, Next Chapter Booksellers, St. Paul

Greater Minnesota

3/28/2024, 7:00 PM, Lynette Reini-Grandell, Wild Things: A Trans-Glam-Punk-Rock Love Story, Content Bookstore, Northfield

3/28/2024, 5:00 PM, Patty Wetterling, Dear Jacob: A Mother's Journey of Hope, Copper Pony, Sauk Rapids

4/4/2024, 7:00 PM, Patty Wetterling with Joy Baker, Dear Jacob: A Mother's Journey of Hope, Content Bookstore, Northfield

4/10/2024, 7:00 PM, Cathy Coats, To Banish Forever: A Secret Society, the Ho-Chunk, and Ethnic Cleansing in Minnesota, SCSU, Atwood Theater, St. Cloud

In the Media

Cathy Coats, To Banish Forever: A Secret Society, the Ho-Chunk, and Ethnic Cleansing in Minnesota, Almanac, TPT, January 12, 2024

“When Minnesotans tried to banish the Ho-Chunk people 'forever,'” Star Tribune, February 14, 2024

“Book Focuses on Ho-Chunk, Secret Society's History” by Edie Schmierbach, Mankato Free Press, February 21, 2024

“Patty Wetterling tells story of her son abducted in 1989,” Good Morning Arizona, CBS 5, Phoenix, AZ, February 21, 2024

“Mother Publishes Memoir on Decades-Long Search for Son,” Fox 10, Phoenix, AZ, February 21, 2024

David La Vaque, Tourney Time: Stories from the Minnesota Boys' State Hockey Tournament, “Lori and Julia,” MyTalk 107, February 29, 2024

David La Vaque, Tourney Time: Stories from the Minnesota Boys' State Hockey Tournament, “Minnesota Live,” KSTP, March 7, 2024

Oskar’s Voyage book launch, “Literary Pick of the Week”  by Mary Ann Grossmann, St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 10, 2024

Noteworthy

Extra, extra: we’re hiring! MNHS Press is looking for an acquisitions editor and for a director. 

Rose McGee discusses the origins of her children’s book Can’t Nobody Make a Sweet Potato Pie Like Our Mama! on YouTube.

New in MNopedia

Commitment and Guardianship of Lydia B. Angier, 1896–1907

Lydia B. Angier was declared insane and committed against her will to Rochester State Hospital in 1896. For the next three years, she wrote letters arguing for her release and restoration to her old life in St. Paul, where she had run a newspaper stand. Her letters provide a window into life inside hospitals for the insane at the turn of the twentieth century, where many people faced poor living conditions and abuse.

Welsch v. Likins

Welsch v. Likins (1974) was a landmark legal case for disability rights in Minnesota. It dealt with three issues fundamental to the disability community. First, it addressed the right to treatment under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Second, the case confronted the provision of care in the least restrictive of environments, including home and community-based services (HCBS). Third, it questioned whether institutional environments violate the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.

Forthcoming Releases

April 2: A Murder on the Hill: The Secret Life and Mysterious Death of Ruth Munson, Roger Barr

April 16: It Took Courage: Eliza Winston’s Quest for Freedom, Christopher P. Lehman

Bestselling Backlist