Duluth: An Urban Biography
$20
Duluth
An Urban Biography
by Tony Dierckins
Published by Minnesota Historical Society Press and winner of the Northeast Minnesota Book Award, Duluth: An Urban Biography covers the city’s history, from the Precambrian lava flows of 2.6 billion years ago that formed the bed of Lake Superior through the November 2019 mayoral election, just months before Duluth’s 150th anniversary as a city. The book highlights the fascinating stories of Duluth: Its significance as the final stop in the Ojibwe’s legendary westward migration; the cycle of booms and busts that shaped its early civic history; the natural port on St. Louis Bay that made shipping its first and most important business; the industries, industrialists, and immigrants that drove its commerce; the city’s boundless natural beauty; the ugliness of the 1920 lynchings of three African American circus workers; Duluth’s contributions to popular culture—and popular culture’s long history of disparaging Duluth; and throughout the years, how Lake Superior and the St. Louis River have driven and sustained Duluth’s economy, offered its residents unlimited recreational opportunities, attracted tourists who flock to their shores—and created an east-west sociopolitical split that divides the city to this day.
Softcover | 192 Pages | 45 Illustrations | 6 x 9 inches
Praise for Duluth: An Urban Biography
“A Duluthian at heart and a historian by passion, Dierckins brings Duluth’s past alive in a conversational narrative about our city at the Head of the Lakes. With intriguing old photos and painstaking research, Dierckins delivers a compelling portrait of this city loved by its residents and millions of visitors.”
— Sam Cook, award-winning author and columnist for the Duluth News Tribune
“With Duluth: An Urban Biography, Tony Dierckins provides the book we’ve been missing for years—a reliable, brisk narrative history of Minnesota’s most distinctive city. The author’s clear, engaging style conveys tragic and comic events with equal ease. I recommend this book to residents and visitors alike.”
— Barton Sutter, author of “Cold Comfort: Life at the Top of the Map” and Duluth poet laureate, 2006
“Dierckins’s engaging history tells the unvarnished stories of a city forged by grit and resilience in the face of hardship.”
— Don Ness, mayor of Duluth, 2008–16
about the author
Zenith City Press publisher Tony Dierckins has written more than two dozen books, many celebrating historic Duluth, Minnesota. Learn more about DIERCKINS HERE.