"As fine a writer as the Twin Cities has ever spawned."--Bob Collins, Minnesota Public Radio "Throughout this generous, sprawling, and haunted (yes, it is) volume, characters rise and descend, slip into still lake waters on dark summer nights and emerge luminous; they wail and sing, and we don't need to know the difference between; for in Jim Walsh's telling (and as his Irish ancestors knew too well) sorrow invariably moves into bright song, and song--no matter how buoyantly intoned--is forever laced with melancholy and loss. This is what it means to love profoundly and without condition, as Jim seems to love not only his town but us as well. The place he describes feels to be both lost to the past, and yet somehow still in the process of becoming. Jim is the most faithful of narrators, and as such, be prepared: the story he tells might just be your own."--Joe Henry, Grammy Award-winning producer/singer/songwriter/author "Jim Walsh gives us genuine affection in revealing the soul of growing up in South Minneapolis. Home to so many of us, born and bred. The treatment bound, the ain't never gonna leave's.

Lapsed midwesterners, returning prodigal daughters and sons. Death, drunks, democrats. Dads and dogs. Brother Walsh is the ride or die guardian angel of all teenage prayers."--Mary Lucia "To some, Jim Walsh is a modern-day troubadour. To others, he's simply 'The Dude.' Whichever is the case, in this volume that is at times rollicking, irreverent, always poignant and even sentimental, though never maudlin, he writes beautifully about Minneapolis, the city he deeply loves. One can't help but see that love with each page and each vignette crafted by a master who knows that to best feel the soul of the city, one must spend time with its individuals, and to know them truthfully, one must 'hear' the stories they inhabit.

In Fear and Loving in South Minneapolis , Jim shares with us his eyes and ears, along with his own soul that brings them all together."--William D. Green, author of The Children of Lincoln: White Paternalism and the Limits of Black Opportunity in Minnesota, 1860-1876 "The essays and columns by Jim Walsh that resonate with me most in Fear and Loving in South Minneapolis center around his observations of the beautiful natural spaces in our city. Now more than ever, we are turning to our parks and lakes to find solace in these tremendously tumultuous and challenging times. We should all take time to savor these beautiful places like Jim does and renew our spirits."--Sarah McKenzie, former editor of the Southwest & Downtown Journals.