Summary

While world war raged in Europe, an America divided by ethnic, political and nationalist unrest struggled to come together. Nowhere were tensions greater than in Minnesota, then under dictatorial control of a temporary seven-man commission-arrests for treason multiply, watchful secret agents are on duty, a U.S. Supreme Court justice condemns the state's "policy of repression." Patriot Hearts details the ongoing clashes between superpatriots and their rivals, the political left, pro-Germans, and those less than "100% American." Readable, relevant and carefully researched, this study supplies a fascinating supporting cast of radicals, seditionists, spies, firebrand farmers, profiteers and provocateurs who combine to tell an extraordinary story of Minnesota's home front during the stormy 1917-18 war years.