The Other Side of Anoka is a journey into the Nineteenth Century: a time when people from both Europe and the eastern United States were making their way west to find a new life for themselves and their families. In telling the story of one of these little towns in the newly opened territory, the author weaves a rich tapestry, integrating fictional characters with the historical, breathing life into people who are no longer with us but who were once the fabric of Anoka and thus taking the stories of the place and its people out of the musty covers of long-forgotten history books to give them feet and wings.