Boathouses of Lake Minnetonka is a beautifully illustrated and meticulously researched history and photography book that gives the reader an insider's view into the most enchanting boathouses of Lake Minnetonka.

Hundreds of cottages and cabins, mansions and houses line the shores of Lake Minnetonka, one of Minnesota's most beautiful lakes and site of the state's most coveted properties. Legendary Homes of Lake Minnetonka invites readers into thirty of these dwellings-built by families like the Washburns, Pillsburys, and Daytons. Evocative words and stunning color photographs guide readers through these beautifully designed and furnished homes. Portrayed in elegant detail are interiors of renovated Victorian cottages and rustic cabins, as well as those of houses designed by modernist masters like William Lescaze and Philip Johnson. Photographer Karen Melvin takes viewers through the front door, showing living rooms furnished with Mies van der Rohe couches and chairs designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and walls adorned with works by Robert Motherwell and Damien Hirst. Author Bette Jones Hammel relates the homes' histories of ownership and details the many renovations they have seen over time, renovations that have attempted to retain the homes' character and extend their lifespan. For the best views of the exteriors of these homes, you would need a boat. To see the interiors, you would need an invitation. Hammel and Melvin have chosen the most interesting houses-both architecturally and historically-and painstakingly scouted out the best vantage points, both inside and out, to provide a personal tour of these spectacular homes.

This winner of 11 national publishing awards belongs on every coffee table Summit Avenue, grande dame of Victorian boulevards, is lined with magnificent turn-of-the-century mansions built by railroad magnates, lumber barons and captains of industry. Great Houses of Summit Avenue and the Hill District is a celebration of these homes on St. Paul's best-known and most beloved avenue. With a foreword by Garrison Keillor and fascinating stories penned by four award-winning writers, the book opens the doors to more than two dozen legendary homes situated on America's best-preserved avenue from the era. Photographer Karen Melvin takes us along for a tour through stately mansions to view these remarkable architectural gems. Richly illustrated with hundreds of photos, this book offers an irresistible invitation to step through the doors of these showcase homes to explain what we are all curious to know.

An architectural tour of some of the finest homes in Minnesota situated around Minneapolis's famed Chain of Lakes.

The lakeside home reflects its owner's love for the outdoors and passion for life on the water. Residences are designed to be practical, and exhibit an open-minded style in which to live.

Lake Minnetonka is renowned for its natural beauty as well as the prominent people it has attracted to its shores as a historic site of grand hotels, steamboats, and wealthy visitors from around the world, and as the home of the legendary Excelsior Amusement Park. But did you know that early European settlers to the region faced conditions so dire that they named an outlet of the lake “Purgatory Creek”? Or that a ginseng boom brought slaves to Wayzata to harvest the plant’s roots? Many know that Frank Lloyd Wright designed famous homes around the lake, but few are aware he was also arrested there for living with his mistress and sent to the Hennepin County jail for “white slavery.” By the Waters of Minnetonka uncovers remarkable and hidden facts about the lake and those who have lived on its shores, from the region’s original Dakota inhabitants to the present. Nineteenth-century plantation owners made Minnetonka into a summer vacation playground for the wealthy, and Prohibition-era battles led teetotalers to hoax Minneapolis newspapers about bloody clashes between preachers and saloon owners. Eric Dregni, who grew up in Minnetonka, sheds light on intriguing, if at times unsettling, aspects of the lake’s history, challenging myths and revisiting elements of the past that have been forgotten or glossed over. He also relates—and sometimes pokes fun at—the opulent, glamorous, and sometimes raucous moments that have made Lake Minnetonka an icon of splendid resort living in Minnesota.

Award-winning photographer John de Visser and lifestyles writer Judy Ross examine one of Muskoka's most striking features, its boathouses. Exteriors range from Victorian lavishness to Shaker simplicity. Some of these boathouses date back to the 1800s, some are Muskoka modern. Inside are inspired sitting rooms, bedrooms, baths, kitchens, and cherished collections of family memorabilia.

Bought or brought? Revisit the nostalgia of the school cafeteria with this collection of interviews, vivid portraits, and elaborately reimagined food photos. Food often unites us in unexpected ways -- especially on Taco Salad Day. Drawing on material from more than seventy voices , these stories capture all walks of life -- from celebrities and chefs to a circus family, new immigrants, a creative dad whose illustrated lunch bags went viral, plenty of unlikely cultural mashups, and one genuine cafeteria lady. Their experiences are compelling, familiar, and foreign at the same time, forming a cultural time capsule. School Lunch celebrates our diversity and our shared experience. In their words: "School lunch is one of the core reasons I became a chef." -- Marcus Sammuelson "My mom, God rest her soul, was not exactly Mom-of-the-Year on this kind of stuff. She worked full-time, that woman was not about to peel and slice fruit for me." -- Natalie Webster "I ate the same damn thing every day for six years." -- Micaela Walker "On the days when I didn't have enough food there was always a reason to start or finish a fight." -- George Foreman "We were definitely a crusts-on family." -- Daphne Oz "I used to hate that feeling of walking into the lunchroom for the first time and not knowing where to sit." -- Chinae Alexander "Every kid had some good item to trade and I had f****** applesauce." -- Sam Kass

After a miscarriage, a young couple move from San Francisco to the Sacramento suburbs to restart their lives. When the vacant house across the street is taken over by who they think are squatters, they’re pulled into a battle neither of them bargained for. The gang of unruly drug addicts who’ve infested their block have a dark and secret history that reaches beyond their neighborhood and all the way to the most powerful and wealthy men in California. L.A. fixer Calper Dennings is sent by a private party to quell the trouble before it affects his employer. But before he can finish the job, he too is pulled into the violent dark world of a man with endless resources to destroy anyone around him. Praise for COLDWATER: “You know those times when your reading slows down and you can’t find the right book to read next? Tom Pitts’s Coldwater was the book I needed to pull me out of those doldrums. I tore through it, gripped by every page. Simply put, Coldwater is a damn good book. A thoughtful and violent tale of bad luck and bad choices. I loved it.” —Johnny Shaw, author of Big Maria and Undocumented “A great American writer who knows his way around the gutter. Pitts is bold; his style his own. In Coldwater, he builds characters with heart, through layered storytelling and dialogue as real as a conversation between old friends. Tom Pitts at his very best.” —Matthew McBride, author of Frank Sinatra in a Blender and A Swollen Red Sun