Minnesota 1918- A Book Review and a History Lesson

I first saw Curt Brown's book, "Minnesota 1918" about two years ago and knew I had to read it. I was so enamored that I took a picture of the cover so I wouldn't forget to hunt it down. A book about Minnesota history mixed with a crazy conflux of events? Right in my wheelhouse! Of course, I'm cheap and waited until it came into the thrift store to actually read it, which it did recently. 

In the fall of 1918, The US was fully engaged in WWI, the flu pandemic was raging around the globe, and back in northern MN, a massive, drought-fueled forest fire killed over 450 people. The story is assembled through reviewing historical data, newspaper articles, and personal stories.  

Not the world's greatest book, but certainly worth a read. I confess it was a part of MN history I was unfamiliar with. Of course, that's why I read books like this- to learn things. I was unfamiliar with the fire, it's not, perhaps, the most widely known in MN, but a description like this (from an unnamed soldier) will draw me in every time. "I had thought that the devastation wrought by the retreating Germans was of such calibre that I would never see anything to exceed it. This burnt-over area is so completely extinguished of all semblance of human occupation that the deliberately destroyed territory deserted by the Germans was almost a paradise in comparison."

But then the parallels to 2021 come into play and my mind goes really crazy. When I say (OK, I'm not the first to say it) that history repeats itself, this is why. And also why a good number of ideas for my books are found in historical accounts.

Hmmmm...Pandemic? Check. Anti-Maskers? Check. Massive drought? Check. Hyper-patriotism? Check. War? Civil unrest? Check. Maybe not like the Great War, but we still have family members serving overseas, so check. 

The part that blew me away comes from a man named John F. McGee, described as a precursor to anti-communist, Senator Joe McCarthy. Not the company I would want to be in, but... Mr. McGee would go on to fight against farmers and laborers organizing and railed against Swedes and Germans (Minnesota has *a couple* of those whom he thought might be disloyal in the war against Germany. He would say "...The nation blundered at the start of the war in not dealing severely with those vipers."

Right now, literally, history is repeating itself before our eyes. How it will play out this time, nobody knows. But somebody should write a book about it!