The story of Minnesota’s longest-serving governor and his role in propelling the state to the global stage, woven together from interviews with many of its most influential civic leaders.

Rudy Perpich was one of a kind. As Minnesota’s longest-serving governor, he built bridges where others saw impassible divides: between rural and urban life, labor and business interests, local politics and international trade.

Rudy Perpich: A Minnesota Original explores the life and legacy of one of the state’s most consequential political figures. Crafted from oral histories of influential leaders—including Paul Wellstone, Marlene Johnson, James Oberstar, Joan Growe, Mark Dayton, Sandra Gardebring Ogren, Roger Moe, and Arne Carlson, it reveals how Perpich’s political fortunes mirrored those of the state. It follows Perpich from his youth on the Iron Range, to his political forays on the school board and in the statehouse, and his decade-spanning stints in the governor’s mansion (a residence he once tried to sell).

A tale of globetrotting economic tours, major construction projects, and support for education and the arts, it is also the story of bocce-ball, failed chopstick factories, and even USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev. Schierer and Sturdevant examine the qualities and quirks that allowed Perpich to develop policies that crossed geographic and partisan boundaries. Rudy Perpich is a portrait of a unique civic leader, who left an indelible mark on the state.