• Above Martin Luther's Seal it says, "This is Most Certainly True" and below it the shirt is stamped just like a passport saying, "Confirmed Lutheran!" Good for today's confirmands as well as for those who "read for the minister" when memory work really mattered and "Public Questioning" or catechization was enough to make Lutheran boys' ... ... more

  • by Paul Engle
    Paperback
    This book is the 12th in the U/Iowa Press's series, "Singular Lives: The Iowa Series in North American Autobiography." This particular memoir is that of Paul Engle, noted American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is perhaps best remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and as ... ... more

  • by Maxinne Rhea Leighton
    Paperback
    Although this children's book isn't about Scandinavian immigration, the circumstances — the long voyage, fear of the unknown, and reluctance to leave everything familiar — that Krysia, a young Polish girl, goes through are perhaps universal. Two things make this book special: the beautiful and captivating artwork by Dennis Nolan ... ... more

  • Photography by Doug Ohman and Story by Will Weaver
    Jacketed Hardcover

    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 ... ... more

  • by Byron D. Halsted
    Paperback

    This ecologically aware manual was written in 1881 with the farmer in mind — during a time when a laborer earned a mere dollar a day. When it was originally released, it was titled Barn Plans and Outbuildings. Included are more than 250 illustrations and designs for nearly 100 structures spanning the gamut ... ... more

  • by Curtiss Anderson
    Harcover
    A "robust" Norwegian-Lutheran family's summers at "The Lake" in the '30s and '40s in Northern Minnesota. Anderson, a nationally recognized editor of many magazines, unknowingly began his prestigious career writing notes and letters on a hand-me-down Underwood typewriter as a young boy. These saved letters are now compiled into a coming-of-age memoir that brings ... ... more

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    by Bob Artley
    Hardcover
    These are tales of Christmas past as only artist and "former kid" Bob Artley can paint them. With fond reminiscences and nostalgic watercolor cartoons and his characteristic humor and insight, Bob takes us back to holiday life on the farm. Artley takes the reader to a long-ago Christmas ... ... more

  • Marilyn Ziebarth & Brian Horrigan, editors
    Hardcover
    Christmas in Minnesota evokes memories of holidays past: a communal feast in the 1870s, holiday pageants accompanied by stage-fright, forgiving and reconnecting with relatives, the torture of writing the perfect annual Christmas letter, to a drummer boy in the Civil War who lifts other soldiers' spirits with a ... ... more

  • by John McCutcheon
    Hardcover with CD
    "And suddenly in two tongues one song filled the night sky." John McCutcheon, nominated for six Grammy Awards, has been called "America's balladeer" and has been described as a cross between either Pete Seeger and Mr. Rogers, or a mixture of Will Rogers and Bruce Springsteen. In addition to kudos ... ... more

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    by Bob Artley
    Hardcover
    Built in 1877, Bob Artley’s family farm in Hampton, Iowa, was without indoor plumbing and was heated by wood or a coal-burning stove. Yet, the air was filled with love and security, especially during the holiday season. It created a magical childhood that Artley wished every child could experience. Sharing his memories through ... ... more

  • Edited by Dorothy Dodge Robbins & Kenneth Robbins
    Hardcover
    An excellent gift for people of many ages, regardless of their locale, that brings together unique geographic, historical, and cultural perspectives and memories about winter’s holiday celebrations and traditions. Reviewers of this book have called it "a thought-provoking and inspiring antidote to the dark and icy ... ... more

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    by Ben Logan
    Hardcover
    "As one of my longtime favorite holiday books, I have recommended this book to Rural Route customers for several years, and started fretting two years ago when I could no longer obtain it." SN
    Two years ago I realized this endearing narrative, which combines the importance of nature and the environment on ... ... more