Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Childhood and youth    4. Family    5. Hawkins, Hugh    6. Historians    7. History    8. History: American    9. Kansas - Local History    10. Oklahoma - Local History    11. Personal Memoirs    12. Regional Subjects - Midwest    13. Social History    14. United States    15. United States - State & Local - Midwest    16. United States - State & Local - Southwest   

Reviews (1)

A Wonderful Suprise
This book had a surprising amount of information and insight.Mr. Cummings followed politics, read newspapers, and wrote poetry, then wrote about these things in his journals.It really gives a look at how hard life was back then, and we like the lead character a lot.I recommend this for anyone who knows someone who grew up on a farm, or who is interested in history. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. (Frederick Augustus),    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Cummings, Frederick A    7. Cummings, Frederick A.    8. Diaries    9. Farm life    10. Farmers    11. General    12. Minnesota    13. Personal Memoirs    14. Regional Subjects - Midwest    15. United States - General    16. b. 1846    17. American history    18. Biography: general    19. USA   

Reviews (7)

A Wagon Load of Memories
One story, "Toyota City", is worth the price of all of the "Minnesota Memories" books. Joan and her fellow writers take us back to our childhood and memories of friends and relatives. Even though I am from North Dakota, these collections of stories ring true to the stories we were told when visiting the "Home Place" in Minnesota. Never been to Minnesota? Read the books and find people as they really are. People like you and me or like we wish we were. Fill your wagon with real stories of real people as you join Joan and friends in a journey to the real Minnesota. We were privileged to have Joan visit our home. She is as delightful as her books and her time with us is now one of our very own "Minnesota Memories."

Nostalgia and Laughter from the North Star State
Readers of this book write and say, "Send me another; I want to give it for Christmas to my relatives who already have every refrigerator magnet and walleye shot glass from Mall of America."Tell newcomers or those who have retired from Minnesota winters and relocated in Florida that this is one book they should share with anyone who still holds the North Star State dear to their hearts.It's a gem!

Uplifting Memories
You'll be charmed by the North Star memories these 2 ladies evoke of their lives in Minnesota in the '50's.How I had forgotten the polio epidemic, the love-affair with Elvis most of us had, the local swimming holes, and the scrap books I kept but now can't find.I laughed, I cried, and I sent in my own submission to their upcoming Vol. II because I too was introduced to my first theatrical performance at the high school gym when basketball nets served to hold spot lights and the velvet curtain was strung between them.Their writing even captures the speech patterns I wanted to lose, but my Minnesota accent still gives me away.Their guest writers capture memories that my family holds dear--the local church pageant, the one-room schoolhouse that educated most of my family, and the centennial parade with its primite floats and antique cars that stole our hearts and made us yearn for those by-gone years of the simple life, valued time with family, and Christian values that are never appreciated till later in life.This is a fun read, one that all Midwesterners can identify with and appreciate. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. History / United States / State & Local    4. Humor / Essays    5. Regional Subjects - Midwest    6. United States - State & Local - Midwest    7. Essays    8. Form - Essays    9. History    10. Humor    11. Minnesota    12. Non-fiction    13. United States - State & Local   

Reviews (2)

hilarious!, yet you can still identify with it
this is only the 3rd book in a series of five and i can already guaruntee that no matter where you'e from, you'll love this book! living near Flint, Michigan most of my life and going to the UP a few times makes it even easier to identify with this book. i've been through the town where the writer grew up(in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan) and its a lot like my hometown. especially in the first story, the Kindergarten Chronicles, i can really agree with the writer. it felt like you were the dumbest kid in class on the first day of kindergarten, but it also felt like you were already tons smarter than everybody else and you were the only sane one there! at one point in the story, when the writer's class' assingnment was to draw a ball and color it, they could only choose from red, yellow or black. the writer uses a turquoise(sophisticated!)crayon that he brought from home and a tinkertoy can to make a perfectly round circle while the teacher isn't looking. since the kid next to him was having trouble, he thought he would help him out and tell him his secret. when he finished explaining, it said,"He gave me a blank stare." AMEN! this same thing happened to me a lot, and still does. another example of feeling like you're the only smart one there. and when their teacher tells them she'll pick the best one and the artist will be the winner. when she "judges", she says "they're all so good i can't decide! so you're all winners!" AMEN! again! i hated this when it happened to me! the writer then writes, "It was clear the school system didn't appreciate independent thinkers." this is how i always felt. then the same kid he tries to help does something that i was much too chicken to do as a little kid for fear of getting into deep trouble (that i shouldn't mention directly because i'd be spoiling it for you) to the fat kid who takes over all the toys, the writer gets blamed for it. so when the teacher keeps him after school, the kid who did it says it was him, not the narrator. after he(the narrator) is let off, the teacher tells him that his ball was actually the best, and she just didn't want to hurt the other kids' feelings. i can identify with this, too. i couldn't stand the suspense. gee,i hope i didn't spoil too much for you, but it was necessary to help get my point across of why i love this book. besides, this was only part of the first story in a book of 9 short stories. again, if you want a grab-it and read a great, quick, funny, book(with modestly clean humor), this is the book for you! do not pass this one up!!

Growing Up In Rural America
Northern Passages is the third book in Jerry Harju's chronicles of growing up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.It is chock full of adventures of his boyhood.Even if you grew up in the city, when reading this book you can experience growing up in rural America.Northern Passages is filled with humor, nostalgia, and sometimes sadness.Every child's first day of school is a memorable one, but in Jerry's life it was even more than that.Imagine a five-year-old explaining to his mother why he was kept after school.This book also commemorates piano recitals, the annual Fourth of July bonfire, the poignancy of changing schools in the middle of the year, Jerry's introduction to and coping with segregation, the rigors of catechism class, home economics without the girls, and finally his night out with the boys, visiting a wide open Wisconsin border town at the ripe old age of sixteen.From beginning to end, each page of Northern Passages will bring a smile and a chuckle. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. General    6. Regional Subjects - Midwest    7. Topic - Family   

Reviews (1)

My Hometown
I read this book because I was given a signed copy of it as a gift (the author is now deceased). I grew up in the same town as the author, and he wrote extensively about the area in many books, not just this one. But this was the first (and so far only) book of his I read. His philosophy is similar to James Joyce's DUBLINERS or Sherwood Anderson's WINESBURG OHIO. The book examines the lives of people living in a specific community and how it shapes them, and although the other books were fiction, Derleth's is not. The book started out very slowly but I stuck with it and it did get better. He tells the story of people in a small Wisconsin town from the late 1800s to the 1950s. Many of the people went crazy or committed suicide. It also has a good dose of nature stories, as Derleth recounts his walks in the forest and marsh in the countryside and describes the wildlife he met. This book is definitely not for everyone but if you are patient and are interested in nature and a slice of life in olden days Sac Prairie (known more commonly as Sauk Prairie or Sauk City and Prairie du Sac), then this will be an enlightening read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1909-1971    2. 20th century    3. Authors, American    4. Biography    5. Country life    6. Derleth, August William,    7. Fiction    8. Homes and haunts    9. Literature - Classics / Criticism    10. Prairie du Sac    11. Regional Subjects - Midwest    12. Wisconsin   

Reviews (4)

Real Stories from Real People
This is the third "Minnesota Memories" from Joan Graham.I've read them all!This one is as delightful as its predecessors. The Real Hot Dish
I really enjoyed this book - it evokes the bittersweet memories of growing up in the midwest - and not just in Minnesota.This is the real thing, not some tongue-in-cheek send up of "hot dish & ludefisk."

Mandatory Reading for All Who Love Minnesotans
I married a St. Olaf graduate who still carries her Minnesota accent after 40 years.Until I read this volume and the other two books in the series, I never really understood those North Star inhabitants who are afraid to say anything for fear of "making waves," who adore Eddie Cochran's hit "Sittin' in the Balcony," who worship Owatonna's Sullivan designed bank as a shrine, and who worry about everything from weather to the success of this year's corn crop. These books should be required reading for those who know and love Minnesotans or just want to understand the people who make the state so special.The final entry, Governor Pawlenty's Inaugural Address, made me especially appreciate Minnesotans' contributions to our daily lives. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American - General    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Regional Subjects - Midwest    4. United States - State & Local - Midwest   

Reviews (1)

D'Lightful Reading
Northern D'lights is a collection of humorous short stories about the rigors of growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the 1940's.Even today the Upper Peninsula is viewed by most as a strange, wonderful, and sparsly populated area.But it was even more so when Jerry was growing up in the pre-WWIIera.In Northern D'Lights Jerry Harju has recreated the events that happened to him and characters he met during that time.You will enjoy each character and story!So sit back, relax, and enjoy! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Childhood Memoir    5. General    6. Regional Subjects - Midwest    7. Topic - Family   

Reviews (8)

Growing up at America's core
Susan Allen Toth first appeared on my radar screen with her three volumes of travel essays on England (MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH ENGLAND, ENGLAND FOR ALL SEASONS, ENGLAND AS YOU LIKE IT). She's a soul mate. In BLOOMING, penned in the late 70s, Ms. Toth shares coming-of-age memories as delightful as those from another of my favorite authors, Laura Shaine Cunningham (SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS, A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY). I Lived A Similiar Enjoyable Life
Once I began reading this great book, it was hard to take a break for even mealtimes.When I was growing up here in Ohio during the 1950s, it was quite a bit like in the author's story.Not perfect, but a very good life!

The Good Ole Days
It's a refreshing Step Back In Time reading.Difficult to believe such an era ever existed.Today's readers will learn a lot about how to live a simpler, equally enjoyable life. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Ames (Iowa)    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Childhood and youth    6. Regional Subjects - Midwest    7. Social life and customs    8. Toth, Susan Allen    9. Women    10. Biography & Autobiography / General    11. Modern fiction   

Reviews (35)

An Amazing Journey
I am also a "family" member, although married in as Sel did. I felt compelled to read this book as a historical novel of part of our family tree and as a member of a family who deals with depression in all sorts of ways. I think reading about other family's secrets, and the pain of their dealing with it, and the help they received-or how they helped themselves, delves deeply into the heart of this book. We all need helps in life and seeing the tragedy of one family (and not knowing of it as it was happening) helps us deal with our own pain. I think that Sel is a courageous and strong woman and her family's anguish dipped deeply into my heart both physically and mentally. I think her references and self helps were unselfishly cataloged and there for the taking. Everyone in my family who read it, and everyone I loaned it to felt the power of this book and its tale. Thank you Sel for being so candid.

Author's courage to speak out
I admire the courage of the author to speak out and tell her account, share her most intimate thoughts and feelings and provide the layperson an informed message about Bipolar Disorder and suicide."You have provided a great service to the public, that no professional mental health provider could--a look at the legacy of this mental disease and suicide."
People are so entertaining
I also "borrowed" this book from someone and couldn't help but wonder how big this Sel's head must be.I haven't heard so much self pity and "look at me now" in my life.When I read the review that states it should be made in to a movie I absolutely laughed out loud.I didn't find much "comfort" from this since I was too sick of hearing how wonderful this person thought she was.I'm very glad that I didn't spend any money on her parade. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Christianity - Christian Life - Family Relationships    6. Christianity - Christian Life - General    7. Illinois    8. Judges    9. Manic depressive persons    10. Psychotherapy - Couples & Family    11. Regional Subjects - Midwest    12. Religious    13. Biography: general    14. Christian life & practice    15. Counselling    16. Family & relationships    17. Psychology-Psychotherapy - Couples & Family    18. Religion-Christianity - Christian Life - Family Relationships   

Reviews (1)

This man is no tenderfoot
The great American writer Hemingway wrote about the "lost generation" the fellows who came back from WWI and wanted more than the nine to five grind. Enter Charles Ira Cook who headed north to Minnesota to get the wilds out of his system on the advice of his father. Charles goes up with a friend who soon enough pines for the city life and goes back. Picking up a local man for a new partner Charles is off again in a highly descriptive book that reads fast and is so enjoyable. I loved the part when Charles and his partner Bill listen in the dark as a weasel chases a mouse around the cabin rafters. The story also shows what to look out for when a weasel doesn't have anymore mice to chase. Charles plunges into these woods with an open heart and his deep love of them. The locals are sometimes over taken by his lust for life ashe traps,fishes and describes everything he see's - like a pet beaver that can sit at the supper table and drink from a cup. I only wish he would have wandered futher east into Canada and bumped into Jim Vanderbeck the real life person in Stephen W Meader's book Trap Lines North one I read every year. This is a book I will read again and it comes with a fold out map in the back. If you're after a good read and an adventure this is for you. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1892-1965    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Boundary Waters Canoe Area    6. Boundary Waters Canoe Area (Minn.)    7. Cook, Charles Ira,    8. Description and travel    9. Historical - U.S.    10. Minnesota    11. Pioneers    12. Regional Subjects - Midwest    13. Trappers    14. United States - State & Local - General    15. Ontario    16. Travel writing    17. True stories of endurance & survival   

Reviews (2)

Prairie Why?
This book is not my usual genre, but thought I'd stretch a bit. A few chapters in, I felt that I should not be reading Barbara's private diary.Several chapters later I was wondering WHY I was reading Barbara's private diary.Several more chapters in, I was wondering why Barbara felt we all should be reading her private diary.I am confident that Barbara got more out of writing this book than I got out of reading it. very good read
i thoroughly enjoyed this book. i am not an expert critic, but i found myself wanting to go"home" again after reading her book.very nostalgic and bittersweet. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1942-    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. History    5. Hughes family    6. Iowa - Local History    7. Literature: Classics    8. Personal Memoirs    9. Regional Subjects - Midwest    10. Scot, Barbara J.,    11. Scotch Grove (Iowa)    12. United States - State & Local - General    13. Biography: general    14. Norris family    15. Scot, Barbara J    16. USA    17. Memoir   

Reviews (1)

Family Narrative
This is a tender narrative that provides uncommon insight into family life on Chicago's South Side during the second half of the twentieth century.
Read more

Subjects:  1. 1952-    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Bukowski, Douglas,    5. Chicago    6. Chicago (Ill.)    7. Childhood Memoir    8. General    9. History    10. History: World    11. Illinois    12. Polish Americans    13. Regional Subjects - Midwest    14. History / United States / General    15. True Stories   

Reviews (26)

This is the best police book I've read to date
I'm going to be a police recruit in the NYPD in the upcoming months, and wanted to know more about this line of work..Armed & Dangerous would be the book to read.This book is for anyone wanting to be a cop, marrying a cop or the friend of a cop...Gina pulls no punches.She is gritty, raw and honest in her writing, which a lot of other police novels lack.I'm currently reading another police novel now, and its so hard to get into it.Gina raises the bar on all other novels..if you never pick up another true crime novel, read this one!!

By Gina Gallo - with no one else.
Riveting, disquieting, amazingly well written. I had to check the cover a couple of times to make sure it wasn't written "with Joe Shcmow." Ms. Gallo names names and leaves out no details about how she managed to function, survive, succeed, and retain personal dignitywithin a most wretched hive of scum and villany.

A Disturbing Look at Society
This was an interesting book, however I would have liked to see a little more of the positive side of being a policewoman.There had to be something positive about the job, or she wouldn't have been a policewoman for so many years.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Gender & the Law    3. General    4. Law    5. Political Freedom & Security - Law Enforcement    6. Regional Subjects - Midwest    7. True Crime   

Editorial Review

The bare facts suggest the author's family was a textbook case of African-American dysfunctionalism: his parents divorced in 1954 after three years and five children; two of his brothers were in trouble with the law; and two of his sisters had illegitimate children. But they emerge as flesh-and-blood individuals in Haygood's moving narrative, which chronicles his flight away from poverty in Columbus, Ohio, toward college and a career in journalism, even as it acknowledges unbreakable links to kin and the past. The unadorned prose seethes with emotion that is all the more powerful for being suppressed. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Great reading
A wonderful story about the love one young man has for his family

Haygood memoir -- a solid, entertaining autobiography
I picked up this book because of a jacket blurb by Reynolds Price, who calls it "a grave and beautiful surprise."Price is right.There are no spectacular events in Wil Haygood's story of growing up as a black kid in love with basketball in Columbus, Ohio, in the 1950s and 1960s, but his accumulation of little ones -- living with his dependable grandparents Willie and Emily, going to movies, throwing rocks at a house once lived in by James Thurber (and that Haygood himself would later live in), moving out with his mother and sisters, meeting his half-brother Macaroni (whose end, after a career as pimp and petty thief, will surprise you), transferring from school to school to play basketball, being the first in his family to finish college, trying to make it in New York as an actor.For Haygood himself, this is a success story; he ends as an author.For his family, the success is less obvious, but it is there:they left Alabama in the 1930s and 1940s, got jobs in Ohio, invited brothers and sisters and cousins to live with them while they got on their feet.Not everyone makes it -- there are deaths and jail sentences -- but this is a cheerful book, a hymn to families and grandmothers and sisters who encourage, help, or send money. Best of all, Haygood is a fine writer, able to portray his scatterbrained mother sympathetically and to convey his gratitude to the people who helped him along the way (one is the father of singer Nancy Wilson). ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Columbus (Ohio)    6. Family    7. General    8. Hagood family    9. Haygood, Wil    10. People of Color    11. Regional Subjects - Midwest    12. Biography: general   

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Childhood and youth    4. Historical - U.S.    5. Literary    6. Nineteen fifties    7. Norwood Region (Ohio)    8. Popular Culture - General    9. Regional Subjects - Midwest    10. Schwartz, Richard B    11. Schwartz, Richard B.    12. Social Science    13. Social life and customs    14. Sociology   

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Farmers & Ranchers    5. Personal Memoirs    6. Regional Subjects - Midwest    7. North Central & Mid-West states   

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Chicago (Ill.)    6. General    7. Illinois - Local History    8. Reference    9. Regional Subjects - Midwest    10. U.S. History - 20th Century (General)    11. United States - State & Local - Midwest   

Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Farm life    3. Frontier and pioneer life    4. General    5. Kohl, Edith Eudora,    6. Regional Subjects - Midwest    7. South Dakota    8. U.S. Local History - Missouri River Valley States    9. Women    10. b. 1884    11. History    12. Kohl, Edith Eudora    13. USA   

Reviews (2)

Life aboard eight Greatlakes Steamboats in the 1960's
I bought this book expecting it to be mostly about the eight steamboats but found it to be several stories in one.
A Memoir about coming of age in the 60's
This book reads as a memoir.Anyone who came of age during the sixties, relates to the uncertainty of that period or would like to learn more will enjoy this adventure.
Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Great Lakes    5. Great Lakes (North America)    6. History    7. Lake steamers    8. Livingston, Patrick    9. Maritime History    10. Regional Subjects - Midwest    11. Sailors    12. Shipping    13. Ships & Shipbuilding - General    14. Ships & Shipbuilding - History    15. Transportation    16. Maritime / nautical trades    17. North Central & Mid-West states    18. Travel writing   

Reviews (2)

Outstanding
I read Joe's book in a day, cried during the reading, and found even more respect (although I didn't think it possible to respect him more than I already did) as a human being, writer, and professor.The story is intriguing and honest, rich and lyrical.Joe really knows how to use language to his advantage.I've passed it on to others already.It's a great book from a great man.

Gutsy, Lyrical
Mackall writes a gutsy book here, looking honestly at drinking, depression, despair, and the similar pitfalls that too often trip-up young men from blue-collar Cleveland (or any other rust belt city), yet he writes with beauty and lyricism, giving us, in the end, a beautiful memoir of faith and redemption. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Catholic Church    6. Catholics    7. Cleveland    8. Ex-church members    9. Ohio    10. Personal Memoirs    11. Regional Subjects - Midwest    12. Working class    13. Biography: general    14. Sociology, Social Studies