Sheldon T. Aubut and Maryanne C. Norton bring the history of Duluth, Minnesota's buildings to life in this book. "Duluth" starts with an early history of the Indian settlements of the Sioux and Ojibwe people, to Minnesota Point and the street car line serving both residents and businesses in the late 1800s.

Then we tour the West Downtown business district with its two-story structures where families lived on the second floor, to the West End now known as Lincoln Park. Continuing on our journey to East Downtown discovering mainly retail with fraternal organizations and theaters built in the 1870s and 1880s to the early government buildings constructed from the 1860s to 1900s and later.

Our hosts guide us through the hills, which rise from Lake Superior for a look at one of the nicest residential areas of the time. Personally, I did not know the city once had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the United States and this wealth produced many beautiful commercial buildings, homes, and bridges.

We then steer towards the East End, an area filled with the period revival homes that were much in vogue. Lastly, the "Streetcar Suburbs" where it was possible to live away from the crowded downtown area and commute, and Skyline Parkway, a roadway near the top of Duluth's hills.

"Duluth" is the perfect gift book for architectural aficionados and those that want to learn more about this area. The book offers a wonderful sampling of the city's significant structures and makes for enjoyable reading about its wonderful historic treasures.

This volume in the Images of America series looks at Duluth, Minnesota the "Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas." Local historians Sheldon Aubut and Maryanne Norton have put together a collection of mostly vintage photographs (and a few etchings) showing the office buildings and grand homes that have defined Duluth for the past century and a half. For me the most fascinating photographs are not of the buildings, which stand, but for the most distinctive landmarks which have been lost. So more than the photograph of the town's first Post Office it is the shots of the Lester Park Bridge (116) and the Pavilion at the top of the Incline Railroad (82) that especially stand out. I do not think of this book as being a guide for visitors but rather as a keepsake for those already living here in the Zenith City. However, if you are interested in historical photographs then you might want to check out "Hibbing, Minnesota" and other volumes in this series.

Sheldon T. Aubut and Maryanne C. Norton's 'Duluth, Minnesota' gives an inexpensive look into the history and architecture of this picturesque city. I wish it had been available before my last trip up there last year. I will definitely re-read it before my next visit. The book's easy-to-read conversational style keeps you moving through, and the photographs tell a fascinating story. Very highly recommended for anyone with an interest in this part of the country.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time about going up north. Fish,hunting,camping, and meeting other people are the best settings in the book. The book makes you feel like your up in the wilderness hunting or on the lake fishing.

It's just a really good book about life in general and especially the way we feel about being Up North.

This is the best camping cook book I ever read "terrific" says me "spectacular" says my family

I am myself a recovering batterer. I began my process of change well over ten years ago after attending a Duluth Model program at the Center for Nonviolence in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Previously I had attended two six month long Anger Management Programs conducted by PhD Psychologists and MSW's. Today I conduct a batterers program myself using the Duluth Model outlined and explained in this book. This program has changed my life.

I visited Duluth for the first time last year and liked the town so much, I went back three days ago. The title of this book was enough to shock me into buying it and reading it from cover to cover within a few hours of leaving the shop. The subject is depressing, yet fascinating; the book overturned my outsider's assumptions about the town and the state. Fedo does not get sidetracked by excessive detail or the urge to be judgmental; he tells a horrible, simple story in a way that is both easy to read and deeply disturbing. He tries to understand the motivations of most of the key players, the heroes and the villains, and conveys the difficult choices faced by some of those present. For the police and bystanders in Superior Street that day there was a very thin dividing line between complicity and innocence. As William Green asks in the introduction, "at what point is one's guilt by association manifest?".

This tragedy could have happened in any state in the country and it would be harsh to say the events of June 1920 suggest that Duluth folk were uniquely bad amongst the people of the North. A set of chance occurrences came together at that moment in that place with consequences that reflect badly on the entire nation in that era. If Duluth is stained by the murders it is as much for the shameful cover-up (the collective amnesia that allowed three victims to lie forgotten for so many decades) as for the events of eighty years ago. Fedo deserves a lot of credit for excavating this episode from his town's past.

When I was growing up in the Duluth area, I had heard references to this event in the city's past, but no one seemed to know much of anything about it. Finally, I see and understand more clearly what happened that night in June 1920.

I also feel now that I understand the city of Duluth better than I did before I read this book. I always thought that there was a black cloud over the city, but only those who have lived in the city all their lives seemed to be in tune with it. I now see that intense skepticism, lack of passion, and a touch of guilt had been passed down to future generations without those persons even realizing it. I hope that with a memorial on the spot where this tragic event occured that the healing can begin.

I stumbled upon this while doing research on my family--imagine my shock to discover my great-grandfather's name mentioned several times in this book. My mother and I read it apprehensively, unsure of what we would discover. My mother worried that her "pa" would be portrayed as a monster, but Mr. Fedo's writing is factual, fair and honoring of the era's perspective. Disturbing and horrifying, I appreciate this valuable document as a lesson in humanity and a testament to how even the most upstanding, warm people can be capable of abhorrent things.

Funny, well written, and very complete

Nina's book goes far beyond the "where to eat, where to shop, where to stay" standard of so many guides. It talks about the shipwrecks of Lake Superior, the geological landscape, rivers and waterfalls, outdoor activities (including curling and watching the stars) and where to locate the nearest liquor store! It is obvious that she loves her neighborhood, and this book helps you to explore more than the surface. A must read for anyone headed up Highway 61 - and a great gift for those who live there.

Although I grew up in northeastern Minnesota and was driven away by the cold, I am always drawn back to Duluth and Lake Superior. (Duluth is an incredibly beautiful place and for a city it's size has a thriving arts community.) Barton Sutter makes me want to move to Duluth. He describes the characters, the landscape, the lake, the weather...everything which makes Duluth so special...in his own unique style. In a few chapters he talks about the BWCA, but I didn't feel that this detracted from the main concept of the book. Mr. Sutter is to be congratulated for making this city come alive for me.

Barton Sutter is an amazing writer. He uses his creativeness to express his feelings about the beautiful city of Duluth. Not only did I enjoy "Cold Comfort," but I enjoyed learning more about Barton Sutter. He seems to be a brilliant man with a lot of positive energy. The book highlights points of Duluth and Lake Superior that I've never heard of before or considered. I'm new to the city of Duluth; during my winter break, I'm going to take some time to visit the places that Sutter talked about in "Cold Comfort." He really inspired me about the city of Duluth and I look forward to getting to know the city better!

I attended college at what was then called Wisconsin State University-Superior in the late seventies. I was from Philadelphia and I quickly got into this college to avoid the draft. So did many eastern draftable men. Imagine my surprise when I landed at Duluth Airport in January and stepped into a sheet of frozen air that made the hairs in my nose stiffen like pins.
Barton Sutter describes Duluth and Superior exactly the way people live there. Yes, people live there and they are nice people, but as Sutter shows, they ain't like you and me. They live in snow drifts nine months of the year.
Then there's Lake Superior or as Barton describes it, GOD. The lake is an ocean and it's everywhere. Barton describes fishing, hiking ,canoeing, and reading maps for a hobby. Somewhere in those dark winters he gets a divorce, is involved with a suprisingly active art community, and then gets married again. The prose is perfect. The description of rugged Minnesota and Wisconsin is terrific. Forget Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. Experience ice fishing at thirty below.

To judge by one of his responses to the Proust Questionnaire published in Vanity Fair, Vidal considers this peculiar little volume his chef-d'oeuvre. One can only assume this is another example of the well-documented phenomenon of a parent reserving his fiercest love for his sickliest child.

Although written in the nondemanding (for authors and readers alike) turn-the-squares'-cliches-against-them style of his celebrated poleminc-cum-sex-comedy "Myra Breckenridge", "Duluth" generally fails to sting or tittilate. Consider this representative (you'll have to take my word for it) sample of the book's approach, taken from its opening pages:

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"I believe, Edna, that a Negro is being lynched."

"You'll love Duluth. I can tell." Edna revs up her jalopy's motor. "We have excellent race relations here, as you can see. And numerous nouvelle cuisine restaurants."

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Oh, that vile bourgeois complacency! I can just picture Vidal's Washington-elite nostrils twitching with contempt as he composes at the writing desk in his palazzo in Ravello, Italy. Only one can't help but wonder: is it racism that excites his disgust or just the stench of the middle class?

Vidal was an old man when he wrote this, but he writes like a college sophomore out to have a great deal of fun. Lots of laughs, silliness, attacks on the right wing. A quick read and a fun one. Stay away if you are easily offended by sexual humor.

This book is Ha-Ha funny and Hmmmm interesting all at the same time. It is a satire, among many other things. Read it and read it again, and then once more, then put it aside for a few years, then read it again. You'll thank yourself for doing so.

Reading Friendship Fires was an experience for me. I usally don't read books that are about the wilderness, but this time I did and I'm glad becuase I learned that being advantures in life can bring you to discover many new oportunitys. I liked the way Sam Cook related his advantures with his family and brought them with, threw out is jorneys. This is a man of great character and I enjoyed reading his book.

I took Friendship Fires with me on a recent camping trip to read around the fire.. I am a big fan of Mr. Cook, having read many of his columns in the Duluth News Tribune. This book is a collection of his columns over a number of years. The book is composed of many short "stories" that are put together into the book in a logical fashion. The content of the book is outstanding, and will make you laugh, and will also make you stop sometimes and just contemplate the story. The book makes a great gift for anyone who enjoys the outdoors.

If I get a bad grade on my O. chem. midterm I'm blaming this book. It was given to me to read while I was in the middle of studying and it caused some sizable breaks in my attempts to learn what a carboxylic acid is. Needless to say, I found it pretty engrossing, or at least more than my textbook.

A Puzzle for Fools is essentially a country house murder, with the twist being that it's set in a mental hospital. It has the set group of people who could be suspects, the limited setting and the basic interactions, the doctors take the role of the hosts, the staff of the servants etc., that are typical to that classic genre of mysteries, but the setting itself give a flair of the unusual.

The story is narrated by Peter Duluth, a recovering alcoholic who is among the more sane of the inmates of the asylum. By virtue of his sanity, and the fact that he discovers the bodies, Duluth is taken into the confidence of the authorities and tries to solve the mystery on his own. The murderer starts with a campaign of frightening various inmates and using their neuroses to his advantage. He (and I should mention that I'm using the indefinite pronoun here) then moves on to a particularly gruesome and brutal murder.

To criticize, I would say that the murderer is a bit to miraculous, has too many skills that just happen to be perfect for the job at hand. It's not entirely believable and tends to the melodramatic. The other problem is that it got very confusing at the end, when I was certain that it had been stated that one person was the murderer, but then the very characters that made the statement seemed to ignore and forget it, leaving a welter of confusion that was never cleared up.