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Perennial Ceremony: Lessons and Gifts from a Dakota Garden

Reviewed by Renoir Gaither

Perennial Ceremony: Lessons and Gifts from a Dakota Garden Author: Teresa Peterson Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2024 224 pages; hard cover; 34 b/w photographs, $25.95 Perennial Ceremony: Lessons and Gifts from a Dakota Garden highlights Dr. Teresa Peterson’s gifts as purveyor of rituals; canny, earthbound observations; and spiritual wisdom.

March of the Governors: Mark Dayton

Tom Beer and Paul Nelson

Mark Dayton, Minnesota’s fortieth governor, was the oldest to assume that office for the first time at sixty-three. He stepped into the role with vast political experience. In the 1970s, he served as legislative aide and Minnesota Economic Development commissioner and later worked four years as state auditor and six…

March of the Governors: Arne Carlson

Paul Nelson and Tom Beer

Arne Carlson, Minnesota’s thirty-seventh governor, was a Swede and a progressive Republican, like several before him, but unlike them, too. He grew up poor in New York City and had no connection to the dominant Harold Stassen political lineage. Carlson came to Minnesota for graduate school—then won election after election:…

Decisions, Destiny, and Dreams: Plympton’s Reserve, St. Paul’s Founding, and Desnoyer’s New Bridge Square

Drew M. Ross

The Desnoyer Halfway House located on the St. Anthony Falls-St. Paul Road attracted soldiers from Fort Snelling, residents from growing villages along the Mississippi, and tourists traveling to the area to glimpse the cascading St. Anthony Falls. Courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society. By Drew M. Ross To see this…

Spirits Dancing: The Night Sky, Indigenous Knowledge, & Living Connections to the Cosmos

Reviewed by Meredith Cummings

Spirits Dancing: The Night Sky, Indigenous Knowledge, & Living Connections to the Cosmos Photography by Travis Novitsky; Text by Annette S. Lee St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2023 154 pages; paperback, 117 color illustrations, $19.95   “. .

March of the Governors, Governor #36: Rudy Perpich Part II

Paul Nelson and Anne Field

Part II: Following his gubernatorial defeat in 1978, Rudy Perpich (1928-1995) spent a few years in Vienna, Austria, working as a trade representative for Control Data Corporation, but it wasn’t long before he began planning another run for the state’s highest role. Voters remembered him fondly and ushered him back…

March of the Governors: Rudy Perpich

Paul Nelson and Anne Field

March of the Governors, Governor #34 Rudy Perpich (Series Podcast #37) Part I: Rudy Perpich (1928-1995) served as Minnesota’s thirty-fourth governor in the years 1977 and 1978. He got there by succession when Wendell Anderson resigned. Perpich then appointed Anderson…

March of the Governors: Harold Levander

Paul Nelson, Matt Wright

March of the Governors, Governor #32 Harold Levander (Series Podcast #35) Harold Levander (1910-1982) ran for political office once in his long life, in 1966. He defeated incumbent governor Karl Rolvaag, served four years, and never ran for office again. He had been…

March of the Governors: Karl Fritjof Rolvaag

Tom Beer, Paul Nelson

March of the Governors, Governor #31 Karl Fritjof Rolvaag (Series Podcast #34) Karl Fritjof Rolvaag (1913-1990) grew up in Northfield, the son of acclaimed novelist Ole Rolvaag. Upon his father’s untimely death in 1931, Rolvaag roamed the West for five years, working…