"Compiled by the Workers of the Writers' Program of the Works Projects Administration in the State of Minnesota." "With an (sic) new introduction by Thaddeus Radzilowski"
Originally published 1941. This is a 2004 reprint of 1986 edition.
Hennepin County Library paperback 48 pages plus recipes, index, and foreward (approx 80 pages total)
Genre: non-fiction history
I was curious about this book after reading William Kent Krueger's This Tender Land. As I looked back on my entry for that book, I realized that it referenced the West Side Flats in St. Paul, not the Bohemian Flats in Minneapolis! The www.mnopedia.org/place/west-side-flats-st-paul site has more relevant info on the area Krueger's novel deals with.
Besides learning about the history of these immigrant homes on the Mississippi River, I learned about the Writers' Program during the Depression. I mostly think of the WPA building structures! How cool that people who could write were paid to do so. I got The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writers Project 1935-1943 from the library as well. I just skim-read it, though. I'm not that big of a history buff!
I love the old photographs and the stories of people's lives. The descriptions of celebrations were my favorite. I'm so sad that money, greed, and industry won out over these hard-working people who had lived along the river for so many years. I most definitely want to go visit the public park that is there now! I don't remember this area from my days as a University of Minnesota student! (Minneapolis Park System)
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