Cooperative Commonwealth: Co-ops In Rural Minnesota 1859-1939 is an original, ground breaking, and seminal work examining how rural Minnesotans used the principles of cooperation and collaboration to try and gain local control of their agricultural economies in accordance with democratic principles. More than 600 cooperative creameries, 150 township mutual fire insurance companies, hundreds of rural telephone associations, and 270 farmer elevators give documented evidence of the strength of pre-World War II cooperatives.

This superbly assembled collective history is told through newspaper articles and minutes of local meetings giving authentic voice to the men and women who made rural Minnesota a "cooperative commonwealth". Highly recommended for students of Minnesota history, American agriculture communities, and the rural cooperative movement.

472 pages, 2000, 6" x 9", paperbound