General History of Minnesota [related links]
Annette Atkins, Creating Minnesota: A History from the Inside Out (2007) -- an excellent, new synthesis, employing a variety of individual perspectives and unique evidence to summarize the state's history and its distinctive cultures.
Theodore Blegen, Minnesota: A History of the State (1975) -- currently the best one-volume history.
Theodore Blegen and Philip D. Jordan, With Various Voices: Recordings of North Star Life (1949) -- an exceptional work that reproduces original articles, memoirs, letters and testimony on events in Minnesota history.
Theodore Christianson, Minnesota: The Land of Sky Tinted Waters- A History of the State and Its People (1935) -- entertaining multi-volume history by one of the state's most colorful governors. The last 3 volumes contain numerous biographical sketches written by several contributors.
William W. Folwell, A History of Minnesota (1956-69) -- in four volumes, the most complete history to the 1950s.
Steven J. Keillor, Shaping Minnesota's Identity: 150 Years of State History (2008) -- another fine overview of Minnesota history published to mark the sesquicentennial of statehood, this work focuses on the political development of the state by using examples of geographic, ethnic, economic and interest group disagreements.
Karel Ann Marling, Minnesota Hail to Thee (2008) -- yet another sesquicentennial publication, this volume presents a straightforward narrative of the state's history. But it also is copiously illustrated and delves deeply in cultural issues, in keeping with Marling's expertise on cultural and social history.