What do Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, and Oscar Wilde have in common? They, and authors Edward Eggleston, Hamlin Garland, Bayard Taylor, Knut Hamsun, Fredrika Bremer, Max O'Rell, and Frederick Marryat all visited Minnesota between 1838 and 1890. Each of these authors, and Minnesota's Nobel and Pulitzer prize winning author, Sinclair Lewis, plumbed their Minnesota experiences in later prose and fiction. Reprinted here are eleven essays by John T. Flanagan, originally published in Minnesota History, the journal of the Minnesota Historical Society, which describe the sojourn of these authors and the literary results.

A nice -- but appropriate -- surprise here is Moira F. Harris' Minnesota Community of the Book," which describes the recent flowering of literary presses in the Twin Cities, a development found nowhere else. -- John Mort, BOOKLIST

This title was selected for the Minnesota Book Award as a 1994 Minnesota Community of the Book Special Award Honoree. Visit www.thefriends.org/mnbookawards.htm for more information.