"By the Waters of Minnetonka"

By Eric Dregni. (University of Minnesota Press, 224 pages, $29.95.)

There were big plans for Lake Minnetonka back in the day — one settler hoped that the state capitol would be located there, and when that failed, he made a pitch for the University of Minnesota to build its campus along the lake's south shore. Eric Dregni's lively illustrated history of the lake and its communities is ripe with sometimes wacky, always entertaining stories about the area's gorgeous hotels, the peculiar businesses (ginseng distributing, ice harvesting, apple growing) and how this area grew from Indian country to become the playground of the elite.

Dregni will sign books at 7 p.m. Thu. at SubText in St. Paul, and at 2 p.m. Dec. 20 at Common Good Books in St. Paul.

"Minnesota's Own: Preserving Our Grand Homes"

By Larry Millett, photos by Matt Schmitt. (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 320 pages, 200 color photographs, $49.95.)

Larry Millett is known for his heartbreaking books about Minnesota's stately, long-gone buildings. In this book, he has a happier task: telling the history of some of the gorgeous structures that we can still drive past. These 22 homes include all of the stained-glass windows, beamed ceilings, tiled fireplaces and magnificent staircases that you might expect, but I am not sure anything can compete — for color, surprise, pizazz and lavishness — with the Moorish-themed recreation hall of Stillwater's William Sauntry House (now a bed and breakfast). There is nothing to say to that except, "Wow."

Millett will be at SubText Bookstore in St. Paul at 7 p.m. Dec. 10; the William Sauntry Mansion in Stillwater at 1 p.m. Dec. 13, and at Magers & Quinn in Mpls. at noon Dec. 21.

"Twin Ports by Trolley: The Streetcar Era in Duluth-Superior"

By Aaron Isaacs. (University of Minnesota Press, 352 pages, $39.95.)

In the early days, streetcars crisscrossed Duluth east to west and out to Park Point and even up the Point of Rocks (the famous Incline Railroad) and over the Interstate Bridge to Supetown. Aaron Isaacs packs his informative book with fascinating anecdotes (such as the one about people trying to bring a bag of live geese onto the streetcar). The first streetcars were pulled by mules. Then came electrical trains, and finally everything was ripped up for buses and cars. Let's sigh a little sigh for the days when you could get anywhere by train — every five minutes during peak times, and every 10 minutes off-peak.

The authors will be at Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Uptown at 2 p.m. Dec. 14.

Laurie Hertzel, Star Tribune
"Minnesota's Own," by Larry Millett

"Mark Twain's Mississippi River"

By Peter Schilling Jr. (Voyageur Press, 176 pages, $30.)

Although Mark Twain set his books in all kinds of places — England, Germany and Italy ("A Tramp Abroad," "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"), not to mention Heaven and Hell ("Letters From the Earth") — he is most identified with the Mississippi River ("Huck Finn," "Life on the Mississippi" — oh, you know). In this lush, illustrated book, Peter Schilling Jr. presents a history of the river from the early years of steamboating to the present day. The paintings, illustrations, photographs, postcards, maps and book jackets that illustrate this fine book are a wonderful and lively hodgepodge of ephemera.

"Little Hawk and the Lone Wolf: A Memoir"

By Raymond C. Kaquatosh. (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 258 pages, $22.95.)

Raymond Kaquatosh spent his first idyllic years on Wisconsin's Menominee Reservation, living with his family in a cabin lit by kerosene lanterns, warmed by a wood-burning stove. He and his sister hunted frogs and chipmunks in the woods and walked a mile to school. But in 1933, when Ray was 9, his father died, and Raymond was sent to an Indian boarding school. "Little Hawk and the Lone Wolf" is a poignant memoir not just of that time but of a very specific culture. "My parents taught me to be strong and never cry like the white man," he said. In this book, he learns to straddle both worlds.

Laurie Hertzel is the Star Tribune senior editor for books. On Twitter @StribBooks.