Barry Casselman discusses his book, North Star Rising: Minnesota Politicians on the National Stage, at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, December 6, at Magers and Quinn Booksellers. MOQ co-editor Craig Cox had the opportunity to read the book this fall and here is his review.

Just in time for next year’s Republican National Convention and the state’s sesquicentennial, national political commentator (and MOQ contributor) Barry Casselman has compiled a lively and entertaining political history of the North Star state.

Casselman celebrates the lives of Minnesota’s most notable “favorite sons,” such as Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, and Harold Stassen, but he also drills deeper to reveal scores of anecdotes and insights involving lesser-known giants who have shone on the national political stage.

We learn about populist Congressman Ignatius Donnelly’s 1900 run for vice president as well as his best-selling science-fiction writing, and how James J. Hill once bought a St. Paul newspaper simply to change its endorsement of a political opponent. And while some may recall that Humphrey was the first (and only) Minnesota politician to land on a postage stamp, who knew that President James Garfield’s treasury secretary, former Minnesota congressman William Windom, had his mug plastered on the $2 bill in 1889?

Lavishly illustrated with exotic political ephemera, North Star Rising describes a political past we can all be proud of — and a future well worth watching.
--CC

Magers and Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis MN 55408. 612/822-4611. www.magersandquinn.com

North Star Rising is published by Pogo Press and sells for $16.95 at your local independent bookstore.