It's a happy day when I get a new catalog from the Minnesota Historical Society Press in the mail. Our neighbor to the west is home to "the largest historical society press in the country," a publisher of innovative titles concerning northern Midwest history, nature and culture. If that sounds dull, it's not.
The press has an eye to the quirks of the area -- traditional hot dish and potluck recipe collections, a photographic essay on ice fishing -- but also publishes serious histories like Hard Work and a Good Deal: The Civilian Conservation Corps in Minnesota and nature and environmental titles including one of my favorites, Lost in the Wild, the true stories of people getting really, really lost in the Boundary Waters and the Superior National Forest.