The recent development of light rail transit in the Twin Cities has been an undeniable success. Plans for additional lines progress, and our ways of shopping, dining, and commuting are changing dramatically. As we embrace riding the new Hiawatha light rail line, an older era comes to mind—the age when everyone rode the more than 500 miles of track that crisscrossed the Twin Cities. In Twin Cities by Trolley, John Diers and Aaron Isaacs offer a rolling snapshot of Minneapolis and St. Paul from the 1880s to the 1950s, when the streetcar system shaped the growth and character of the entire metropolitan area. More than 400 photographs and 70 maps let the reader follow the tracks from Stillwater to University Avenue to Lake Minnetonka, through Uptown to downtown Minneapolis. The illustrations show nearly every neighborhood in Minneapolis and St. Paul as it was during the streetcar era. At its peak in the 1920s and early 1930s, the Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT) operated over 900 streetcars, owned 523 miles of track, and carried more than 200 million passengers annually. Recounting the rise and fall of the TCRT, Twin Cities by Trolley explores the history, organization, and operations of the streetcar system, including life as a streetcar operator and the technology, design, and construction of the cars. Inspiring fond memories for anyone who grew up in the Twin Cities, Twin Cities by Trolley leads readers on a fascinating and enlightening tour of this bygone era in the neighborhood and the city they call home. John W. Diers has worked in the transit industry for thirty-five years, including twenty-five years at the Twin Cities Metropolitan Transit Commission. He has written for Trains, and has served on the board of the Minnesota Transportation Museum. Aaron Isaacs worked with Metro Transit for thirty-three years. He is the author of Twin City Lines—The 1940s and The Como-Harriet Streetcar Line. He is also the editor of Railway Museum Quarterly.

In Subterranean Twin Cities, geologist, historian, and urban speleologist Greg Brick takes us on an adventurous, educational, and-thankfully-sanitary journey beneath the streets and into the myriad tunnels, caves, and industrial spaces that make up the Twin Cities' fascinating and surprisingly vast underground landscape. In this groundbreaking tour, the first of its kind of the Twin Cities, Brick mines the stories that lie below the city surface.

Minneapolis roared into the 1920s as a major metropolis, but it lacked the kind of outdoor amusement facilities common elsewhere across the country. In 1925, Fred W. Pearce introduced the Twin Cities to his "Picnic Wonderland." Crowds eagerly poured onto the shores of Lake Minnetonka by the trolley load. Luckily, Excelsior Park survived the Great Depression and World War II on the strength of its celebrity acts. Changes in the forms of transportation, combined with innovations in the outdoor entertainment industry such as Disneyland and an aging infrastructure, eventually forced the park to close its gates.

St. Paul Union Depot brings to life the sights and sounds and the behind-the-scenes inner workings of what was the most important rail passenger station west of Chicago. It is also about the people--the stationmasters, mail handlers, train directors, engineers, and others who were employed there, as well as the millions of passengers who passed through its doors.

In small-town Wicapi, Minnesota, in 1991, twelve-year-old Justin struggles to pick up the pieces of his life after the unexpected death of his father.

Along the way we meet motormen and conductors (including twenty-one women who stepped in during World War I) and learn what its like to run a streetcar through obstacles ranging from heavy snowstorms to Halloween pranks to the heroism of evacuating a burning neighborhood. Then we ride the rails in a typical car, with a floor of varnished wood and seats of cushioned rattan, and a not-so-typical luxury car, outfitted to the nines with velvet curtains and a bar for lucrative ?streetcar parties.? We experience the ride, whether buying a token or braving the smokers on the rear platform when boarding, and we learn the routes as the streetcars deliver, along with passengers, mail pouches and newspapers, dogs, and, in the case of the Park Point funeral car, corpses and mourners. Isaacs traces traffic patterns and geographic features for each line and describes imaginary trips on three of the most interesting routes.

Cal Gant becomes involved in violence and murder when he is drawn toward the mysterious Gretchen Luttermann and finds himself in a struggle with her brutal father that takes him down a terrifying path.

- The ultimate insider's guide to the Twin Cities - Features interesting and unusual places not found in traditional travel guides - Part of the international 111 Places/111 Shops series with over 170 titles and 1 million copies in print worldwide - Appeals to both the local market (more than 3,8 million people call Minneapolis and St. Paul home) and the tourist market (nearly 31 million people visit Minneapolis and St. Paul every year!) - Fully illustrated with 111 full-page color photographs - Revised and updated editionWhen most people think of Minneapolis and St. Paul, they think of frigid winters and thousands of lakes. So most people who come explore the Twin Cities are in for a surprise. The truth is that this metropolis is where history, the arts and world cultures combine to create a dynamic community that is constantly reinventing itself. Bonded by the Mississippi River and studded with lakes, creeks, and waterfalls, this Midwestern destination is a place where nature meets the city with a flair unmatched by any other urban area in the United States. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are packed with secrets and adventures. Visit the sites of St. Paul's nefarious mobster past or paddleboard down a hidden canal that looks like a Monet landscape. Take in a show at the Minneapolis theater where Prince played his first solo gig, ski on a lake decorated with ice luminaries, and sample lefse and lingonberries in a Norwegian market. Discover 111 places in the Twin Cities that will amaze and delight you, whether it's your first visit or fifteenth, or you are a native daughter or son who is lucky enough to call this land of sky-blue waters your home.

Many of today's business leaders champion learning as essential to business success, backing their belief with massive investments in Training and Development (T&D). In fact, T&D investments reach $56 billion per year in the U.S. alone. In this era of unprecedented opportunity, the time is right for T&D to become a full-fledged "player" in the world of business. At issue, the authors contend, is T&D's inability to seize this opportunity and deliver unmistakable value to its most influential customers-the exectuvies who pay for trainiing services but are unable to see clear business value being returned on their companies' training investments. The authors also contend that T&D must alter the traditional precepts that keep it "separate form the business" and "out of the loop" strategically. Van Adelsberg and Trolley suggest that the key to delivering unmistakable business value lies in transforming T&D-in spirit and in practice-from a funciton to a business. The authors draw on their experiences working inside Moore Corporation, DuPont, Mellon Bank, Kaiser Permanente, Texas Instruments, and other top businesses to illustrate how "Running Training Like a Business": 1. Eliminates the many hidden costs of training; 2. Re-focuses T&D from delivering training content to addressing business issues; 3. Makes T&D a full stategic partner in business decision making; 4. Ensures that training measurement is "baked in, not bolted on"; 5. Improves the effectiveness and efficiency of internal and/or external T&D organizations. Trolley and van Adelsberg lead the reader through a proven four-step process for transforming traditional training organizations into training enterprises capable of delivering unmistakable value, quarter after quarter and year after year.

What are the best transit cities in the US? The best Bus Rapid Transit lines? The most useless rail transit lines? The missed opportunities? In the US, the 25 largest metropolitan areas and many smaller cities have fixed guideway transit—rail or bus rapid transit. Nearly all of them are talking about expanding. Yet discussions about transit are still remarkably unsophisticated. To build good transit, the discussion needs to focus on what matters—quality of service (not the technology that delivers it), all kinds of transit riders, the role of buildings, streets and sidewalks, and, above all, getting transit in the right places. Christof Spieler has spent over a decade advocating for transit as a writer, community leader, urban planner, transit board member, and enthusiast. He strongly believes that just about anyone—regardless of training or experience—can identify what makes good transit with the right information. In the fun and accessible Trains, Buses, People: An Opinionated Atlas of US Transit, Spieler shows how cities can build successful transit. He profiles the 47 metropolitan areas in the US that have rail transit or BRT, using data, photos, and maps for easy comparison. The best and worst systems are ranked and Spieler offers analysis of how geography, politics, and history complicate transit planning. He shows how the unique circumstances of every city have resulted in very different transit systems. Using appealing visuals, Trains, Buses, People is intended for non-experts—it will help any citizen, professional, or policymaker with a vested interest evaluate a transit proposal and understand what makes transit effective. While the book is built on data, it has a strong point of view. Spieler takes an honest look at what makes good and bad transit and is not afraid to look at what went wrong. He explains broad concepts, but recognizes all of the technical, geographical, and political difficulties of building transit in the real world. In the end,Trains, Buses, People shows that it is possible with the right tools to build good transit.