and the Wilderness Shall Blossom: Henry Benjamin Whipple by Anne Beiser Allen (2008, Afton Press, ISBN 978-1-890434-75-5)
This book was a mistake from its inception: But don’t take that statement to mean this isn’t a thoroughly planned, well researched, and finely executed biography. It is indeed all of those things. But, much like Kirby Puckett, the famed Minnesota Twins outfielder (whose size and body shape seemed wholly unsuited to be a Hall of Fame ballplayer) this book is just plain packaged wrong. Someone, maybe the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, maybe Bishop Jelinek, maybe the author, maybe the publisher, convinced the design team at Afton Press (or the design team at Afton Press convinced them) to issue this biography in, of all formats, a coffee table book! No. No. No. The story of Bishop Henry Whipple is the story of Minnesota’s statehood, the formation of Christian missions to the Sioux and the Ojibwe throughout the Midwest, and, above all else, the story of a wholly remarkable churchman; a person many Minnesotans have no idea paddled our streams, walked our forest trails, and fished our bountiful lakes during the last half of the 19th century. Well, he did. And damn it (Can I say that when critiquing a bishop’s biography?) his story should have come out in a 6×9 trade paperback at a price of $25.00 or less so every man, woman and child in this state can own a copy. At $45.00 per copy and printed in a size that’s too big to hold while shivering in a deer stand or relaxing in a beach chair, and the Wilderness Shall Blossom is a ponderous, heavy, ungainly work that is beautiful as a centerpiece on your coffee table but impossible to haul into bed to read before lights out. I loved the content. Loved the photos and layout. Someone, and I don’t know who, decided to create a work of art out of the dust, dirt, miles and tears of Bishop Whipple’s life. I think the good bishop would have been happier had the publisher given Minnesotans a less expensive and less physically arduous volume. Well written and precise, the content is 5 stars out of 5. The design is 3 stars out of 5 at best. I’d lean towards the content and rate the total package to be 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5.
