It’s been a while since we’ve dipped into nonfiction. Today it’s all about history.

“Eastcliff: History of a Home”: by Karen Fults Kaler (University of Minnesota Press, $29.92)

(University of Minnesota Press)

Eastcliff, the 20-room estate on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Paul, has been home to University of Minnesota presidents since 1961. This year, interest was revived in the stately residence, built in 1922, because it has been rented to Gov. Tim Walz and his family while the official Governor’s Residence on Summit Avenue is undergoing a $6 million renovation. Eastcliff was without a tenant when former U President Joan Gabel moved out.

Kaler knows her way around the big house, having lived there from 2011 to 2019 as spouse of the university’s 16th president, Eric W. Kaler. She takes readers through the residence, donated in 1958 by the family of Edward Brooks, from the foyer to the bathrooms and back stairs, and discusses menus for events where guests included the Dalai Lama, Helen Keller, and vice presidents Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale. She explains what it’s like to live privately upstairs in a home where the downstairs is an event space. Like most old houses, Eastcliff has its stories. The Peacock Room, for example, is the author’s favorite. Was it used as a hidden bar during Prohibition? Chapters on the most recent presidents’ families to live at Eastcliff gives the book a warm tone, and the old and more recent photos make this book a delight to peruse.

“Death’s Door”: by Barbara Joosse, illustrated by Renee Graef (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, $14.95)

(University of Wisconsin Press)

If you’ve never heard of Death’s Door, it’s a narrow strip of water on Lake Michigan’s western shore, between the northern tip of Door Peninsula and Washington Island. This graphic format paperback tells true tales of tragedy, mystery and bravery of people who experienced the Great Lakes’ most dangerous waters. First are the Powatomi families in the 15th and 16th centuries, some of whom drowned during a great storm. There is greedy Sieur de La Salle, who built a big shop to trade mountains of furs only to have his overloaded boat sink along with his fortune. Mail carrier Henry Miner, in the winter of 1856, traveled from Washington Island to Green Bay and back. Sarah and David Clow are a love story, living on Chambers Island in 1862 with their children. Together they handbuilt the biggest sailing ship ever built in the country. The loving husband named her Sarah Clow.  Finally, there’s the story of the Washington Island men’s basketball team in March 1935, when six players went through the ice to their deaths. Young readers are gravitating to graphic books, and this one would be a good assignment for youngsters who don’t like reading or history. Joosse’s text is poetic: “I am wind./I am water. I am rocks so sharp/they can tear a boat apart…” Graef’s illustrations, such as a giant head blowing a ship off course, and the gray, snowy atmosphere of the islands, are lively and energetic.

“Historic Bridges of Southeast Minnesota”: by Steve Gardiner (The History Press, $24.99)

(The History Press)

Minnesota’s landscape is filled with rivers large and small. How do people cross them? Gardiner explains in this photo-filled book that celebrates the intersection of engineering and artistry. He writes about the history of our bridges, beginning with the Native Americans, and offers a look at everything from the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis to the La Crescent Swing Bridge, the Point Douglas Drawbridge and the Winona Main Channel Bridge as well as massive structures that cross the Mississippi. Lots of color photos add interest to this little piece of Minnesota history.

“Archie Bush: From Prairie to Philanthropy”: by Carl T. Narvestad, edited by Carol L. Heen (Nodin Press, $17)

(Courtesy of Nodin Press/Bush Foundation)

No, the three guys in the car careening off the cover of this book are not the Three Stooges, although the picture will make you laugh. The driver is William McKnight, Guy Lombardo is in the center and beside him is Archie Bush, wealthy St. Paul philanthropist, born in Granite Falls, and a founder with McKnight of what began as Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing company. The company was struggling when it moved to St. Paul in 1910, but McKnight and Bush turned it around. In his private life, Bush and his wife, Edyth, built a house in 1925 at 2215 Summit Ave. in St. Paul, close to the McKnight family. In 1939 Bush built and gave his wife a theater building near the intersection of Cleveland  Avenue and Ford Parkway. The theater was active until 1964, when Mrs. Bush donated it to Hamline University, one of her husband’s favorite charities. Later in life the couple had a winter home in Florida, where Archie went into the fruit and cattle businesses. The Bushes’ lasting legacy is the Bush Foundation, incorporated in 1953 to “encourage and promote charitable, scientific, literary and educational efforts. In total, it has given more than $1.5 billion to individuals and communities. Archie Bush was 78 when he died in 1966 in Florida. Edythe died in 1972. Both are buried at Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul.

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