Rural Route Bookstore

An online-only bookstore featuring books about
Rural and Small Town Life and the History, Heritage and Humor of Scandinavian-Americans

Check the Nostalgia page for Memoirs and Other Books about Growing Up in the Midwest. Click here.

The Opposite of Cold: The Northwoods Finnish Sauna Tradition by Michael Nordskog;
Aaron Hautala, photographer

Nordskog and Hautala's book is a full-color history and celebration of Finnish sauna in the western Great Lakes. Richly illuminated by Hautala's photographs of distinctive saunas from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, and Finland, Nordskog's narrative begins with the origins of Finnish sauna and the arrival of this practice in America, and continues to contemporary designs of saunas by noted architects. To a growing number of people, the culture and practice of Finnish sauna are as much a part of northwoods life as campfires and canoe trips.

This year you can fight winter's chill with the lure and lore of the sauna. Join in one of life's great pleasures by sauna-sitting in 180+° heat and throwing cool water over hot stones to create a blast of steam. Follow this with a jump in the lake or stand naked in subzero temperatures or roll in the snow. The Finnish sauna is often a modest structure made of wood and stone. Over time the wood rots, the stones crack, and finally all that is left are memories. It has been said that other than eating, there perhaps isn't another activity that brings people together to a place where mind, body, and spirit are fused (in this case, fused by heat and steam) to such an extent.

Wisconsin-resident Nordskog, and Hautala, from north central Minnesota, have produced an exquisite commemoration of the history, culture, practice and mystique of Finnish sauna in the northwoods. This is truly a beautiful book, and would make a great gift.

MN - 05 Hardcover $34.95

Wishing for a Snow Day by Peg Meier

Beloved pets. Holiday rituals. Schoolyard antics. Teenage perspectives on a world at war. Childhood is a mixed bag of challenges and joys wherever one grows up. In Minnesota, youthful memories may be arranged seasonally: making snow angels in January, swatting mosquitoes in July.

In this, her "Growing Up in Minnesota" collection, Peg Meier — longtime and award-winning reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune — explores both bitter and the sweet themes of childhood. She has unearthed a wealth of material (diary entries, reminiscences, newspaper columns, photographs) from people who took the time to write whether as children in the moment, or as adults looking back. Humorous touches and reality checks are offered in equal doses, and the result is a fascinating array of experiences spanning the last 100-plus years.

MN - 07 Paperback $29.95

Minnesota in 3D: A Look Back in Time by The Editors of Voyageur Press

With Built-in Stereoscope Viewer-Your Glasses to the Past

This Stereoscope book looks like a long-forgotten photo album discovered in Grandma’s attic. It opens up to display a lost world come to life again, but this time through 3-D photography.

This fantastic, beautiful book includes a brief, colorful history of stereoscope or stereo photography, which started in the 1850s and remained popular until the Great Depression in the '30s. It offered people their first photographic views of the world, and was the television or internet of that era. Traveling door-to-door salesmen sold millions of photos and many, many "viewers", which were odd-looking things made of wood and thick lenses. Look in Grandma's attic, and I bet many of you will find one.

This great book contains 45 reproduced images, along with their reverse sides which contain a detailed historical caption of the image. Each book contains a 3-D-type cardboard set of "glasses" with a special type of cellophane material.

MN - 02 Padded hardcover $19.99

Michigan Yesterday & Today by Robert W. Domm

In the middle of the country and the middle of the continent one finds a Great Lakes state and a great Midwestern center, Michigan. It is a place where yesterday’s history and tomorrow’s promise endlessly vie for pride of place.

This book offers visions of Michigan in all its glory, past and present — from Native American settlements to trading outposts, farming riches to vacation splendors, and artistic heritage to automotive muscle. Images of yesterday and today unfold side by side: the changing landscape, state landmarks and architecture, and the icons of pop culture. This book offers hours of pleasure.

The book is similar to a "coffee table" book: hard covered, big, and filled with many photos, both colored and B&W. The photos — shot by Michigan's son, outdoors writer and photographer Robert W. Domm — are supplemented with vintage postcards, brochures, and advertisements all documenting the beauty of Michigan and the lives of those who live there.

MW - 01 Hardcover $25.00 NOW $20.00

The Pocket Guide to Minnesota Place Names by Michael Fedo

Minnesota has some strange place names — places like Nowthen, Conception, Looneyville, Embarrass, Coin, Fertile, Climax, and Pig's Eye. Fedo explains how these places, including his place of residence, got such unusual names. (Fedo lives in Coon Rapids which was named for the numerous raccoons that used to frequent the banks of Coon Creek.

Place names also offer a history of how the state was settled, and Fedo includes these anecdotes. He also gives fascinating stories behind 1,200 Minnesota place names. Included are names one expects — counties, larger towns and cities, major lakes and rivers — as well as the curious and odd. Culled from over 20,000 entries in the classic work Minnesota Place Names by Warren Upham, this concise guide is a great traveling companion for anyone cruising the highways or canoeing the waterways of the North Star state.

MN - 06 Paperback $11.95

Minnesota History Along the Highways          Compiled by Sarah P. Rubinstein

Subtitled " A Guide to Historic Markers and Sites," this guidebook presents the location of 259 historic markers, 60 geologic markers, and 29 state historic monuments in all parts of Minnesota. Each is accompanied by text detailing the significance and location of the markers, and occasional photographs. For the convenience of the traveling public, the entries are grouped by region and county.

The markers honor fur traders and settlers, explorers and miners, Civil War soldiers and entrepreneurs; they explain waterfalls and sand plains and glacial potholes. Some have stood for over a century, marking the sites of the Dakota War of 1862. More recent markers — giving brief, informative histories of Red River trails, immigrant communities, and important industries — enhance travel along the interstate highway system running through Minnesota.

Ideal for those planning a visit to Minnesota and for genealogists. (See also Six Feet Under: A Graveyard Guide to Minnesota)

MN - 09      Paperback     $13.95

Shipwrecks Along Lake Superior's North Shore     by Stephen B. Daniel

According to information provided by the Minnesota Historical Society, publisher of this brand new book, "beneath the icy waters of Lake Superior lies a vast museum of maritime treasures, relics, and souls that in years past were lost to the crashing waves of this massive body of water." Many of those souls were, of course, Scandinavian immigrants who, because of their earlier fishing experiences in the North Sea, found work on the Great Lakes.

When writing this book author Stephen B. Daniel collaborated with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Preservation Society and, although it is defined as "a diver's guide", one doesn't have to go under the chilly waters of Lake Superior to enjoy this book

Daniel, a veteran diver, has designed the book for those of us in "dry dock". He provides in-depth tours and 40 locational maps, details on the construction of these submerged vessels, descriptions of the circumstances, and histories of many of the sunken ships in Lake Superior. He supplements his text with 300 black and white photographs, charts, and 75 drawings or diagrams, and informs readers of the efforts being taken today to preserve these mysterious nautical sites.

MN-01 Paperback $24.95

In the words of Karen Kane and Gerry Ellis who compiled Wilderness Explored listed below, "Wilderness continues to inspire the human spirit, and even now, gives that spirit breathing room."

Nature's Tranquility: Reflections & Insights Compiled and Edited by Tom Klein

Various naturalists share remembrances, evocative descriptions about the wilderness, and insights into the power of nature. Stunning photography brings these insights and descriptions closer to life. Also available as a gift pack at a reduced cost.

SI - 35 Hardcover $9.95

Wisdom Warrior: Native American Animal Legends by Dennis L. Olson

An artistic review of the wisdom of animals and the lessons humanity can learn from them has been supplemented with great photography. Olson focuses this book on the wolf, bear, eagle, deer and buffalo. Also available as a gift pack at a reduced cost.

SI - 36 Hardcover $9.95

Voice of the Waters: A Day in the Life of a Loon by Tom Klein

This "small coffee table" book is filled with beautiful color photography by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick, and contains short, well-written narratives by Klein that describe the daily goings-on of the loon. Also available as a gift pack at a reduced cost.

SI - 37 Hardcover $9.95

Wilderness Explored: Letters and Journals Essays by Karen Kane; Photography by Gerry Ellis

Panoramic photography of New World landscapes by award-winning Gerry Ellis are embellished with excerpts selected by Kane from journals and letters written by Columbus, Lewis and Clark, Captain Cook, Audubon and other early explorers and naturalists to describe these scenes. Together they have created a testament to what was and is inspiring about North American landscape.Also available as a gift pack at a reduced cost.

SI - 38 Hardcover $9.95

Order by using the Place an Order' form or you may order by phone (800 494-9124). For payment and shipping charges, see 'Place an Order.'