Minneapolis - by Tom Weber (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Minneapolis is Minneapolis because of the water--because of the Mississippi River, and St. Anthony Falls, and the beautiful lakes that dot the city's neighborhoods. Energized by the power of a magnificent waterfall that was harnessed with stolen technology, it became a major, even global, city.

In this succinct and thought-provoking book, Tom Weber provides an urban biography of the City of Lakes. The confluence of the Mississippi and the Minnesota River is a sacred place for Dakota people, who have lived here for millennia. Since the city's beginnings in the 1850s, Minneapolis has experienced continual collapses and rebuilding. Some collapses were real, as when the Falls were nearly destroyed; some are metaphorical, as when corruption and the mob threatened to overtake the life of the city. Weber also explores the effects of the rebuilding and who was in charge: who was left in, and who was left out.

In this updated paperback edition, a new conclusion recounts the context for and the worldwide reaction to the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May of 2020. In the midst of a pandemic, the city was thrust into the global spotlight, and a spotlight was turned once again on the legacies of racism and inequality that brought Minneapolis to the breaking point.

Cities, like people, are always changing, and the history of that change is the city's biography. This book illuminates the unique character of Minneapolis, weaving in the hidden stories of place, politics, and identity that continue to shape its residents' lives.

Review Quotes

"I was taught that to know who we are, we need to know WHERE we are. Too many books treat Indigenous presence as a prelude that ends when white people arrive. Tom Weber's book starts with the Indigenous and builds a complex, truer story of Bde Ota Otuŋwe (Minneapolis). This tapestry of people, strikes, championships, immigration, renewal, disasters, and triumphs provides a fascinating read about WHERE we are."
Mona Smith (Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota), Allies: media/art

"Tom Weber provides a fresh, inclusive, and timely look at the people and events that continue to shape Minneapolis. Playing with chronology, he artfully melds often-told stories with lesser-known ones. This book helps us understand the paradox of a proud city with a sterling reputation that nevertheless struggles with basic issues of equity for its citizens."
John Crippen, executive director, Hennepin History Museum

"Tom Weber unmasks a history of duplicitous relationships and policies that formed the wretched underbelly beneath the glory of Minneapolis. He does what many choose not to do: look at and connect the decisions that continue to maintain shameful race-based inequality."
Al McFarlane, editor in chief, Insight News