Subterranean twin cities
Greg Brick.
Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, c2009.
A professional geologist and author, Brick has written numerous scholarly and general-interest articles about caves and underground spaces; his work has been featured in National Geographic Adventure Magazine and on the History Channel. Based on extensive professional study of the area, his book provides general readers with an armchair tour of the sometimes dangerous but fascinating collection of tunnels, caves, and industrial spaces that make up the subterranean landscape of Minnesota's Twin Cities. These include tube-like natural caves, underground streams, and below-ground spaces used by brewing, mushroom farming, cheese ripening, silica mining, and flour-milling businesses, as well as utility industries. Illustrated with b&w photos. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
AIA guide to the Twin Cities : the essential source on the architecture of Minneapolis and St. Paul
Larry Millett.
St. Paul : Minnesota Historical Society Press, c2007.
Thoroughly researched, meticulously written, and featuring 3,000 architectural structures of wide-ranging styles, this is the essential guide to the architecture Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Money in the bank : the Katherine Kierland Herberger collection
Corine Wegener & Karal Ann Marling.
Minneapolis : Minneapolis Institute of Arts : Distributed by the University of Minnesota Press, c2006.
During the second half of the 20th century, Katherine Kierland Herberger (1912-2003) assembled one of the nation's foremost collections of toy banks--some 1,100, spanning two centuries--which she donated to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 2002. For this catalogue of the collection, Wegener (Minneapolis Institute of Arts) provides an introductory essay on Herberger and her collection, while Marling's (American studies and art history, U. of Minnesota) essay discusses the importance of toy banks in popular culture. The catalogue is arranged in two main categories--mechanical banks and still banks--each chronologically organized, and features a full-color photograph of each bank, accompanied by the bank's title (or type), designer, manufacturer, date, materials employed, dimension, and Minneapolis Institute of Arts accession number. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
The building : Weisman Art Museum : Frank Gehry designs.
Minneapolis : University of Minnesota, Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum : Distributed by the University of Minnesota Press, c2003.
Includes an essay by Lyndel King, director of the Weisman Art Museum.
An echo in my blood : the search for a family's hidden past
Alan Weisman.
New York : Harcourt Brace, c1999.
Throughout his childhood in Minneapolis, Alan Weisman was told that his grandfather was killed by Communists in the Ukraine at the turn of the century. When, as an adult, he meets a long-estranged uncle who tells a very different version of the story, Alan embarks on a search for the truth that takes him to the chemical ruin of Chernobyl and back in time to the Bolshevik Revolution. He discovers the paradoxical rationale for his father's vehement political and social conservatism as well as a more universal truth: that all immigrant families, in order to survive in a new world, must create protective family myths. One of these myths hides the true fate of his grandfather-a nightmare too terrible to express. At once an examination of his rootless generation and a look at the hopes and dreams of his forefathers, An Echo in My Blood takes you from the secret heart of an America you might not recognize to the pogroms of turn-of-the-century Kiev.
Minneapolis, the largest city in Minnesota, adjoins St. Paul, the state's capital, to form the core of the Twin Cities metropolitan area.
In both cities you can walk from one end of downtown to the other anytime of the year, with no concern for any type of weather. The extensive skyways are weatherproof.
Skyways are enclosed, second story sidewalks that link major buildings to each other in the downtown areas. The building owner owns Minneapolis skyways while St. Paul's skyways are publicly owned.
Minneapolis and St. Paul have long shared a cultural scene filled with great art. Minneapolis claims to have the highest per capita attendance at theater and arts events outside of New York City.
The Guthrie Theater is the most famous theater in the city. In order to help revitalize the downtown and warehouse district areas of Minneapolis the city purchased and renovated a few theaters on Hennepin Avenue to create the Hennepin Theatre District, including the State, Orpheum, and Pantages venues.
One of the largest, in total area, shopping malls in the Unites States is located in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota, Mall of America. This shopper's paradise is anchored by four major department stores and features more than 520 stores, a walk-through aquarium, and an entire level of restaurants.
The Mall of America even comes complete with a seven-acre fully enclosed theme park called Camp Snoopy. Camp Snoopy has it's own rollercoaster, merry-go-round and 18 hole 2-story miniature golf course.
Minneapolis and St. Paul downtown areas are only ten minutes apart. They combined offer a diversity of activities and attractions. When you visit Minneapolis / St. Paul it's two destinations for the price of one.
Article by: St. Louis Public Library staff
