For tens of thousands of Minnesotans who walk and bike and paddle around Minneapolis's beautiful Chain of Lakes every year, the lovely homes that surround these fine city parks are as intriguing as the exquisite views of open space and sparkling water. "Legendary Homes of the Minneapolis Lakes" invites readers inside twenty-eight of the most architecturally significant dwellings.
In these pages, photographer Karen Melvin and architectural writer Bette Hammel turn their attention to the finest homes around Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake, Lake Calhoun, and Lake Harriet. Generous homeowners have opened their doors and shared the stories of construction, renovation, and interior design. Featured architects include Harry Wild Jones, Purcell and Elmslie, Edwin Lundie, Close and Associates, Vincent James, and David Salmela.
From the Italianate entryway of the Martin House to the whimsical living room of the Kaufman/Lacey House; from the Arts and Crafts kitchen of the Smith/Liepke House to the Rand/McGlynn Phelps House's stunning formal dining room, "Legendary Homes of the Minneapolis Lakes" offers views of interest to all. This lavishly illustrated and informative book answers the lake walker's burning question: I wonder what it's like in there.
Karen Melvin is an interiors and architectural photographer whose work has appeared in "Architectural Digest," "House Beautiful, ""Mpls.St.Paul Magazine," and "Woman's Day." Bette Hammel is an architectural journalist who has written for "Architecture Minnesota," "Mpls.St.Paul Magazine," "Midwest Home," and "Architectural Record."

This book tracks New Spain's mendicant orders past their so-called golden age of missions into the ensuing centuries and reveals that they had equally crucial roles in what Melvin terms the "spiritual consolidation" of cities. Beginning in the late sixteenth century, the orders gave new emphasis to work in cities, which became home to the majority of friars and to the orders' wealthiest houses, and where mendicants became deeply embedded in urban social and cultural life. Urban friars ministered to residents of all races and social standings and focused on traditional mendicant activities, serving as preachers, confessors, spiritual directors, alms collectors, educators, scholars, and sponsors of charitable works. Each order brought to this work a distinct identity that informed the messages in its sermons, the images in its churches, and the teachings of its priests. In the process, the orders informed people's beliefs and shaped variations in the practice of Catholicism in New Spain. Contrary to prevailing views, the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were a time of prosperity for the mendicants, and even the eighteenth-century reforms that ended this era were nowhere near as devastating as has been assumed. Indeed, the bustle of mendicants' churches and the demand for their services that continued through the end of the colonial period demonstrates a thriving baroque piety.

In September 2015, Junipero Serra was canonized by Pope Francis in Washington DC against the protest of many Californian Native Americans who criticized his brutal treatment of their ancestors and destruction of their culture. Like most complex historical figures, Junipero Serra has been interpreted in countless ways, often contextualized mainly in California. This book situates Serra in the context of the three major places that he lived, learned, and proselytized: Mallorca, Mexico, and Alta California and uses scholars from all three countries to create a rare glimpse into the life of the saint in three cultural dimensions. Essays on his use of music and art, and his representation in popular culture chart the life and impact of Serra, his education, and ideology, Franciscan influence, the plans and building of the missions, Native people and other important topics revolving around his life and history of Serra and the Catholic church in Mexico and California.