Publisher's Note

Fall 2023 release Spirits Dancing inspired a traveling exhibit of photographs by Travis Novistky, seen here at Jeffers Petroglyphs.

With the end of our fiscal year, we've recently compiled our annual marketing, publicity, and sales report. Despite book sales trends being slightly down nationally, we have had a record year! We sold a combined 165,000 copies of physical and digital books, a 35% increase over last year's 122,000. Net sales for the year topped $1.8 million. Our authors took part in more than 200 events, most of them in Minnesota but also spanning from New York City to Austin, Texas, to Seattle, Washington, and points in between. We've had approximately 800 media mentions over the year, encompassing everything from blog posts to podcasts, rural to urban newspapers, local to national radio and television stations, scholarly journals to commercial magazines, and more. As the oldest publisher in the state, we've always known that Minnesotans love history and learning, and we are deeply grateful for the support and attention from readers that these numbers represent.

New Releases

Look for these new MNHS Press titles at bookstores and libraries in September.

The Moons

Chan Poling and Lucy Michell
This charming picture book by the duo who previously collaborated on Jack and the Ghost tells a story full of magic and emotion. As young Lucy struggles to adapt after a move from the big city to a small farm, she finds comfort in music, nature, and imagination. It is fitting that two musicians, Chan Poling of the Suburbs and the New Standards and Lucy Michell of Little Fevers, infuse the pages of this book, published in August, with music. 

Muus vs. Muus

Bodil Stenseth, Edited and translated by Kari Lie Dorer, Translated by Torild Homstad
Originally published in Norway, this translation—a co-publication of MNHS Press with the Norwegian American Historical Association—tells the gripping and consequential tale of Oline and Pastor Berndt Muus, and the scandal that rocked a late nineteenth-century Norwegian American community in Minnesota and beyond. When Oline sued her husband to recoup her inheritance, in the eyes of the Norwegian Synod she had erred by not bringing her complaint to the congregation first, and by refusing to defer completely to her husband. Yet, in her new home of America, the law regarding inheritance was on her side. 

Red Stained

Jokeda "JoJo" Bell
This first full biography of actress Hilda Simms charts her career from Minneapolis to Broadway to Hollywood, delving into her activism during the McCarthy era and the professional repercussions it created for her. Booklist Reviews has raved, “Although less well-known than her contemporaries Lena Horne, Paul Robeson, and Langston Hughes, Simms worked alongside them, fighting racism through the arts while battling accusations of un-American activity. . . . Bell tells a remarkable story of a remarkable woman.” Simms's life demonstrates the complications of mid-twentieth-century history, when Cold War politics collided with the Civil Rights movement. 

Events

Twin Cities Metro

9/14/2024, 10:30 AM, Chan Poling and Lucy Michell, The Moons, Bell Museum, St. Paul

9/14/2024, 10:30 AM, Patty Wetterling and Joy Baker, Dear Jacob, Chanhassen Library

9/17/2024, 10:30 AM, Kari Lie Dorer, Muus vs. Muus, Mindekirken Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church, Minneapolis

9/21/2024, 1:00 PM, JoJo Bell, Red Stained, Strive Bookstore, Minneapolis

10/2/2024, 7:00 PM, Kari Lie Dorer and Torild Homstad, Muus vs. Muus, Magers & Quinn, Minneapolis

Greater Minnesota

9/13/2024, 5:00 PM, Kari Lie Dorer, Muus vs. Muus, St. Olaf Viking Theater, Northfield

9/24/2024, 12:00 PM, Travis Novitsky, Spirits Dancing, Grand Ely Lodge and Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness Tuesday Group, Ely

National and International

9/10/2024, 6:30 PM, Peter Jesperson, Euphoric Recall, Gman Tavern, Chicago, IL

9/12/2024, 7:00 PM, Peter Jesperson, Euphoric Recall, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, OH

9/13/2024, 5:30 PM, Peter Jesperson, Euphoric Recall, Barnes and Noble, Columbus, OH

9/26/2024, 3:30 PM, Peter Jesperson, Euphoric Recall, Pop Montreal, Clubhouse Rialto, Montreal, QC, Canada

9/29/2024, 3:00 PM, Peter Jesperson, Euphoric Recall, Venue TBD, Woodstock, NY

In the Media

The Moons, Chan Poling and Lucy Michell, "A friend in deed," My Villager, August 6, 2024

The Moons, Chan Poling and Lucy Michell, "Minnesota musicians write a tale about song and friendship," KAXE What We're Reading, August 12, 2024

The Moons, Chan Poling and Lucy Michell, "Minnesota musicians team up again for new children's book," KARE 11 News at Noon, August 13, 2024

The Moons, Chan Poling and Lucy Michell, "Literary Pick for Aug. 18," Pioneer Press, August 18, 2024

Retiring Press Editor in Chief Ann Regan, "46 Years an Editor: PW Talks with Ann Regan," Publishers Weekly, August 28, 2024

Retiring Press Editor in Chief Ann Regan, "MHS Retirement: Retiring MNHS Press editor-in-chief Ann Regan with author Roger Barr," TPT Almanac, August 30, 2024

Retiring Press Editor in Chief Ann Regan, "Readers and writers: Outside the spotlight, editor brought to life hundreds of stories," Pioneer Press, September 1, 2024

Noteworthy

More than 100 people gathered in the Minnesota History Center on August 28, 2024, to celebrate the remarkable career of MNHS Press Editor in Chief Ann Regan, on the eve of her retirement after 46 years. Tributes were given by authors Diane Wilson and Anton Treuer, Minnesota Historical Society Director Kent Whitworth, Senior Vice President of Education and Interpretation Kevin Maijala, and Acquisitions Librarian emeritus Patrick Coleman. The most moving moment came when Dr. Amber Annis, Associate Vice President, Tribal Nation Relations & Native American Initiatives, and Rita Walaszek Arndt, Program and Outreach Manager, Native American Initiatives, presented Regan with a star quilt (depicted above). Regan was instrumental in developing MNHS Press's Indigenous history list into a nationally known and respected resource for Native Studies.

New in MNopedia

Watt Munisotaram

Watt Munisotaram—the only Cambodian Buddhist temple in Minnesota and the largest in the US—sits on a forty-acre rural site about thirty minutes south of St. Paul. Although its founding organization, the Minnesota Cambodian Buddhist Society, was established in 1982, it was not until 2007 that members consecrated a temple on forty acres of their own land.

Die Volkszeitung financial fraud

World War I took a toll on Die Volkszeitung, St. Paul’s German-language newspaper. The long-time editor, Fritz Bergmeier, was sent to an internment camp. The paper lost its state printing contracts. Profits dwindled. After the war the paper’s owner, Clara Bergmeier, wanted to sell but found no buyers. This created an opportunity for an opportunist and con man, Clarence Cochran, to engineer a massive financial fraud aimed at German immigrants.

Forthcoming Releases

Watch for Bruce White's latest book to come out this October.

They Would Not Be Moved

Bruce White
They Would Not be Moved: The Enduring Struggle of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe to Keep Their Reservation, featuring a foreword by Melanie Benjamin, details how an Indigenous community repeatedly stood up for itself and won against overbearing pressures across decades. An 1855 treaty set aside thousands of acres to be the permanent home of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, but in order for members to hold this land it required resolute actions and unwavering commitment. White interprets decades of treaty negotiations to outline how each side understood the signed agreements. Ultimately, the story of the Mille Lacs Reservation is one of triumph—of courage and survival and successful resistance.

Bestselling Backlist

Mni Sota Makoce by Gwen Westerman and Bruce White	The Days of Rondo by Evelyn Fairbanks	A Good Time for the Truth edited by Sun Yung Shin

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