Books about Voyageurs from Amazon.com

They started play as an expansion team in 1961, and within a decade, the Minnesota Vikings were among the NFL’s elite---and most popular---franchises. From the formative years under Norm Van Brocklin to the Super Bowl squads of Bud Grant, to the ups and downs under Jerry Burns and Dennis Green, Minnesota’s football team has had its share of dramatic triumphs and heart-wrenching defeats. Through it all, the fans have come out in droves to cheer on the Vikes, whether in the cold winter air at Metropolitan Stadium or the hyper-loud surroundings of the Metrodome.

In the mid-1970s, the city of Boston entered a period of upheaval on both its historic cobblestone streets and its legendary parquet basketball court. The Boston Celtics’ long dominance of the NBA came to an abrupt end, and the city's image as a hub of social justice was shaken to its core. When the federal courts declared, in 1974, that the city was in violation of school desegregation rulings and would need to institute a busing program, Boston became deeply polarized.

          Then, just as the city was struggling to pull itself out of economic and social turmoil, the Boston Celtics drafted a forward from Indiana State named Larry Bird. Upon the arrival of the “Hick from French Lick” to Boston in 1979, the fates of team and city were reborn. Pride, championships, reduced crime, and an economic boom re-emerged in Boston.

          In Rebound!, author Michael Connelly chronicles these parallel but intertwining worlds. It is an account of a city in financial, moral, and social decline brought back to life by the re-emergence of the Boston Celtics dynasty and the return of hope, purpose, and pride to “Hub of the Universe.” Interviews with city officials, former players, and others on the frontlines provide a fascinating exploration into this tumultuous time.

Fully updated with a 2007 season recap and a tribute to the legendary career of Brett Favre.           Green Bay Packers: The Complete Illustrated History is a lavishly illustrated treatment of this iconic sports team. It includes more than 200 photographs, as well as chalkboard diagrams of the key moments and plays from the team’s history. With detailed profiles and stats, the volume explores the players and teams that have defined the Packer legacy over more than eight decades.

          This fully updated edition highlights the on-the-field triumphs of the division-championship season of 2007, chroncles the dramatic postseason victories and heartbreaking defeat, and features a special tribute to the career of the legendary Brett Favre—from his debut season in 1992 to his tearful retirement announcement in March of 2008.

          It is a book that no Packer fan will want to be without.

Now Russell Olsen’s best-selling collections featuring Route 66 filling stations, main streets, motor courts, cafés, campgrounds, honky-tonks, truck stops, and barbecue joints as they appeared both in their heyday and today is available in one package.

For more than 30 years, Route 66 was America’s main east-west artery, pointing the nation toward all the promise that California represented. To serve these travelers, Route 66 boasted bustling commercial hubs, many of which remain today, many more of which crumbled long ago. All of the sites included here—150 in all—are shown both during their mid-century heydays and as they appear today. Taken together, the marvelous visual and descriptive elements assembled here—period postcards and imagery, specially commissioned maps, and Olsen’s own photography and capsule histories of the sites featured—comprise a unique, state-by-state look back at America’s Main Street.

One of only two remaining charter members of the National Football League, the Chicago Bears are a team steeped in history. With nine pro football championships and twenty-six hall of famers, the Bears are also among the most successful franchises in all of professional sports.

This history comes to colorful life in Chicago Bears: The Complete Illustrated History. From the team’s 1919 origins as the Decatur Staleys to their appearance in Super Bowl XLI, this lavishly illustrated book covers the highs and lows from nearly nine decades of Bears football. Here is the story of the first dynasty under George “Papa Bear” Halas; the “Monsters of the Midway” of the 1940s; the team’s resurgence in the late 1960s; its 1985 Super Bowl win; and the run for the title in 2006. Chicago Tribune sportswriter and longtime Bears aficionado Lew Freedmen highlights the legends who have donned Bears uniforms, outsize characters like Red Grange, Bronko Nagurski, Sid Luckman, Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus, Gayle Sayers, Walter Payton, Mike Singletary, and many more. He includes the numbers behind the stories---the stats and team records---as well as pivotal plays in Bears’ history, from Halas’ T-formation to William “The Refrigerator” Perry’s touchdown runs. The result is a key chapter of sports history and a fitting tribute to one of football’s most beloved teams.

This book tells the story of the amazing transformation of farming brought about by the gigantic steam tractors that hauled agriculture into the modern era.  Here is the first-ever thorough history of the steamers packed with more than 400 super-rare photographs and brochures that have taken years to collect.

Before the advent of lightweight gasoline engines, steam tractors were met with awe. Even today, at threshing bees, county fairs, and tractor shows, these remarkable machines command great respect.  This book gives readers and tractor fans a chance to linger over every detail of these marvelous--and now, all too rare--machines.  Richly illustrated and meticulously detailed, each entry brings to the fore a steam tractor that in its day transformed the business of farming acre by acre and day by day.