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Press Book
Blue Men & River Monsters
Folklore of the North
John Zimm
Foreword by Michael Edmonds
A scintillating record of the stories, legends, and lore that people of the Upper Midwest held on to for generations and the customs, foods, and cures that filled their lives.
280 pages, 6 x 9, 23 b&w photos
Paperback: $27.95 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-670-2
Ebook: $15.99 | ISBN: 978-0-87020-671-9
Publication Date: 6/3/2014
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Description
The north is a treasure trove of folklore. From magical creatures of the old country to legends of the mysterious and macabre, this lore is a record of the stories people held on to and the customs, foods, and cures that filled their lives. Collected in the 1930s as part of the Federal Writers’ Program, a Depression-era works project, these are the stories of Norwegian and Swiss immigrants, Native American medicine men and storytellers, and migrants with memories of the earliest days of settlement in the Old Northwest.
In search of stories, legends, songs, and other scraps of traditional knowledge, researchers fanned out across Wisconsin and other states during the Great Depression. The resulting handwritten notes, thousands of pages in length, capture history as people remembered it. Blue Men & River Monsters collects the most interesting and noteworthy of these tales, placing them alongside stunning artwork collected by the Federal Art Project in Wisconsin. Peruse these pages and discover a new history of the people and places of the old north.
Author Bio
John Zimm received a BA in history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and formerly worked as an editor with the Wisconsin Historical Society Press. His articles have appeared in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, and he is the editor of This Wicked Rebellion: Wisconsin Civil War Soldiers Write Home and the author of The Wisconsin Historical Society: Collecting, Preserving, and Sharing Stories since 1846.
This book . . . is a treasure chest for those intrigued by folklore . . . [and] an invaluable way to hold onto our communal past so it does not become part of those ‘days that are forgotten.’
“Whether browsing these pages, scanning the index for specific locales, or reading each yarn from beginning to end, readers likely will find something of interest. Kudos to John Zimm for saving this slice of Wisconsin social history from obscurity.”
—Michael Popke, Isthmus
Blue Men and River Monsters
Folklore of the North
John Zimm
280 pages, 6 x 9, 23 b&w photos
To purchase a copy, follow the links below or visit your favorite bookseller.
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