Unusual, interesting and little known stories of the state of Minnesota. Minnesota Tales is aimed at the target of familiarity-plus-novelty. These suspense-packed stories constitute "history for the ordinary person," and a few include really great traditions passed orally from generation to generation.

Unusual, interesting and little known stories of the state of Iowa. A Treasury of IowaTales is aimed at the target of familiarity-plus-novelty. These suspense-packed stories constitute "history for the ordinary person," and a few include really great traditions passed orally from generation to generation.

Himself a native of the state, political scientist Lentz analyzes the 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election that brought a popular ex- wrestler to the state's highest office. He wades through the events of the campaign and election, and the commentary and punditry to look for the political lessons that can be learned. c. Book News Inc.

This is a collection of short stories and articles about the La Crescent, MN area, compiled and retold by the author.

Folklore tells us something about almost every aspect of the life of the people. This rich and entertaining collection of Nebraska pioneer folklore, taken largely from the Nebraska Folklore Pamphlets issued by the Federal Writers' Project in the 1930s, is intended first and foremost for the general reader, for the people whose heritage it is. Songs of trail and prairie and of the Farmers' Alliance, white man's yarns and Indian tales, pioneer Nebraska folk customs, sayings, proverbs, beliefs, children's games, cooking, and cures—these "wondrously entertaining kaleidoscopic reflections of the people and environment that were inspirations of the classic literature of Mari Sandoz and Willa Cather—to name two—could be a model for Americana collectors in other states to emulate. . . . A treasury indeed."—King Features Syndicate "Parade of Books."

So small it had only one bank, so quiet no citizens carried guns. Hard-working, peaceful Northfield, Minnesota, was an orderly yet busy mill-town in the heart of prosperous farm country. On a serene autumn Tuesday in 1876, local shopkeepers, farmers, and citizenry went about their normal routines, little realizing that the infamous and deadly James-Younger gang had designs on tiny Northfield. The experienced robbers planned to target the single bank, which held the hard-earned money of the townsfolk. Jesse and Frank James and the Younger brothers had never experienced defeat. During a wild gun battle that raged between the outlaws and the bankmen up and down the town’s main street, two unarmed townsfolk were murdered. Northfield’s angered populace fought back. The townspeople killed two members of the James-Younger gang and wounded several more. The remaining bandits fled but were pursued across southwestern Minnesota by a posse that gradually grew to more than a thousand men. In Last Hurrah of the James-Younger Gang, Robert Barr Smith debunks the James-Younger "Robin Hood" image and shows that the real heroes of the Northfield raid were the ordinary people--the bankers who protected their depositors at their own risk, the townspeople who pitched in to chase the gang from town, and the posse members who pursued and triumphed over the retreating remnants of the gang.