The Will and the Way’s first edition was released in May 2004. It sold out in about 15 months, requiring a second printing in the fall of 2005. The book appeals to many kinds of people, especially the four groups below. If you fit one of these descriptions, you’ll like it, too:

Old Timers
Folks who lived in the Duluth-Superior area during most of the 40 years covered by the book. They have a nostalgic interest in how Duluth concealed its downtown freeway below grade and used the rock to armor the beach for a new park, the grit and antics of Mayor John Fedo, and the tenacity of citizen Jeno Paulucci; they remember the billboard that read “Will the last one out of town please turn off the lights.”

Recent Arrivals
Those who have come to the area more recently and are curious about how a medium-sized city with an inferiority complex became an inviting and popular destination for hospitality and conventions, taking advantage of its beautiful natural setting, and adding amenities that fostered remarkable growth in education, health care, other services and industry.

New Leaders
Emerging leaders who seek to chart their own course for the region’s future. They are stimulated by the persistence and vision of the generation that wrote this book. Once they discover they have the will, they’ll find a way.

Citizens of Places in Transition
Citizens of communities who face similar problems and are looking for inspiration and energy--ways to re-tool and justify places confronted by obsolescence or wrenching economic change. Although the book is mostly about Duluth, Minnesota, the determination it describes has a universal quality and application.