Walter Mondale was right on when he wrote, "Atkins' fascinating book allows us to experience Minnesota's rich history from the perspective of those individuals who have shaped and, in turn, been shaped by our great state."
The book he is writing about is "Creating Minnesota: A history from the inside out" by Annette Atkins and published by Minnesota Historical Society Press.
The chapter headings hint at what's to come: The Shape of Water and the Feel of Trees: A South Dakotan in Minnesota; Dancing the Rice; Campbell Country; Playing with the Future; One Mixed-Blood Family Looks for Its Place; The War Touched Us All (WWI); Not Drawn to Scale; Making a Living, Making a Life; The Fairbrothers' Christmas; Becoming Better and Becoming American; The Look of the 1920s; Hanging On for Dear Life; We Never Had Enough Sugar (WWII); Style Comes to Staples; "The House that Hubert Built"; and Walleye Quesadilla and the New Minnesota.
Atkins writes about Little Crow and Ann North, the timber barons, the miller in Marine on St. Croix and the railroad worker in Sauk Rapids and James J. Hill. She tells about the farmers who lived different lives -depending on where their farm was located - and the governors and politicians, from Henry Sibley to Hubert H. Humphrey.
Her description of Hubert Horatio Humphrey - mayor, senator and vice president - is true. To those of us who knew HHH, this is the perfect description: "He entered a room like the wind and commanded the attention of a tornado."
If he met you, he knew and remembered your name and probably sent you a note or a Christmas card.
There's Bud Grant, revered Vikings coach, who was adamantly against the Mille Lacs Indian treaty rights and the netting of walleyes. There's the Volstead Act (prohibition), the forest fires, Betty Crocker and the young Gov. Harold Stassen.
And don't forget the three-act play that ends in statehood.
But what really comes through are the stories of the people who settled in Minnesota, the reformers and the not-reformed, the mixed blood and the easterner. It's a remarkable collection of people that you will meet in this book.
Atkins, who is a professor of history at St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict, tells a wonderful story about the two schools.
St. John's was built on the choice land, hilly, wooded and with lakes. The Benedictine Sisters got the flat, dry land, just four miles away. They still haven't forgiven the monks for stealing the money intended for them by their Bavarian King Ludwig.
However, the South Dakota woman is still trying to understand the Minnesotans who yearn for the woods, forest and lakes, and not the wide-open prairies.
This is one history book that is filled with people and their stories and the consequences of what were small decisions that became important. We've come a long way and we have a rich history. You'll enjoy how Atkins tells our story.
