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 Barns of
Minnesota Photography by Doug
Ohman
andStory by Will Weaver NOMINATED
FOR A 2006 MINNESOTA BOOK AWARD!
This book pays tribute to these vanishing rural icons that symbolize a way of life on the land that was as strong and proud, as fragile and humble, as the barns among us. The rise of agribusiness and corporate farming has made barns nearly obsolete, and the old barns that once anchored family farms across Minnesota are slowly vanishing due to technology and a century of Minnesota's winters. This book combines fact with fiction: the 85 stunning color photographs by Minnesotan Doug Ohman of these once numerous barns are accompanied by a small, moving novel — written by Minnesota's own Will Weaver — about the life and death of one barn through the eyes of the family who built it. According to Weaver, barns "...are landmarks, they are icons, they are metaphors, they are symbols. There's so much meaning packed into those old barns... They're now as obsolete as the steamship, as the coal fired 
locomotive." A perfect gift for anyone over 20, these 125 pages (plus an Afterword by Weaver and Ohlman) stick with you long after you finish devouring the pictures and reading this uplifting, yet sad, story. Barns of Minnesota was the first book in a new series by the Minnesota Historical Society called Minnesota Byways. The second book has just been released: Churches of Minnesota with photography by Ohman and text by Jon Hassler. I - 53 Jacketed Hardcover $19.95
 Voices
for the
Land
Photography
by Brian Peterson Essays and Thoughts by 52 Minnesotans A few years ago, the Voices for the Land project, organized by the nonprofit group 1000 Friends of Minnesota, encouraged Minnesotans to write about the land they love, and to fight for its preservation. The Minneapolis Star Tribune published a selection of these essays, paired with Brian Peterson's photos, in an award-winning series. Voices for the Land brings these essays and photos together now in paperbook form. Brian Peterson has been honored eight times as the Minnesota Press Photographer of the Year. This marriage of words, images, and landscape provides a powerful reminder of our deep and abiding connection to the land. Fifty-two Minnesotans write about the special, sometimes secret, places that give their lives meaning. For some it is their home or cabin or lake; for others, it's a family farm or neighborhood park, a backyard garden or north woods trail--all places where one finds a personal and spiritual connection to the land. The writers share the experience of these favorite places through their senses, from the aching tingle of a cold winter night and the sound of ice "singing" to the buzz of mosquitoes and the acrid smell of burning peat. I - 51 Paperback $19.95
Through 64 short stories, readers meet a group of farm boys who possess all the trouble-making talents of most young boys, yet they recognize and are in awe of the world's tiny miracles. The boys throw tomatoes at passing cars and make coat sails to carry them down a frozen road. Yet, they feed apples to a blind pony, teach a three-legged dog to shake hands, and rescue pigs from an unexpected blizzard. They also build a house out of junk cast aside by adults, "the boys' house". In their adventures, they encounter an unforgettable cast of characters that readers soon meet: the goose lady, the girl at school with six toes, the man who kept cigars in his cap, Spitting Sally, crazy Uncle Jack, and dozens more. Critics have said Heynen's tales are as uniquely American as the writings of Mark Twain, and this book was chosen as an "Editors' Favorite Books of 2001" by The Bloomsbury Review. Nick Fauchald of Minnesota Monthly wrote, "Heynen's book is a masterful peephole into the young male psyche and the family farm culture." Heynen grew up on a farm in Iowa, but now lives in Minnesota and is a Writer-in-Residence at St. Olaf College.
I - 52 Paperback $11.95  |
