I completely finished 11 books last year that were non fiction. That is only 12.5 percent of my books were non fiction. So my plan is to read one non fiction book for every three fiction books finished.
Minnesota, The North Star State by William W. FolwellMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
I began this book as a way to meet my goal of reading more non fiction books through out the 2015 year. My plan is to read one non fiction book for every three fiction books finished.
I finished my first book (1:25)on Monday.
Why a book on Minnesota? My grandfather is turning 100 on February 5th. I was interested in learning more about the state, since he is a long time Minnesotan. The book was a good historical interpretation, shaped by the time it was written in 1908. I liked how non politically correct this history is. Truth is found sometimes in the stuff that dirties up our closet. Today, we tend to shy away from controversial subjects. Minnesota becoming a state was truly controversial, especially in the 1850's before the clash of the Civil War. The national philosophy was emerging upon definite power lines, and Minnesota was caught in the midst of this action.
This book seemed to be his overall general reader of Minnesota's history. I would love to delve deeper into his discussion of the tea pot dome period and its effect on Minnesota. Also the civil war and Indian wars and their effect were interesting but were quickly raked over. I am interested in finding out what ever happened to the 150 Swiss Watchmakers who came to Minnesota to find that the promise of the American Dream was not as good as advertised. The book is a great general history of Minnesota and gave me more appreciation of the state.
The author has three/four volumes of history on Minnesota, which go deeper into themes and study. So far, the volumes are not found at Project Gutenberg, so I will have to wait to dive into them.
The book can be found free at the Gutenberg Project.
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