The Thresher
Description
For Johnny Black, the young man we meet in Herbert Krause's classic Minnesota farm novel The Thresher, his dream of becoming a member of a steam-powered threshing crew has come true. As fireman, he builds the fire that generates the steam and blows the whistle to wake up the rest of the crew.
As writer Patrick Hicks explains in his introduction, commissioned especially for this edition, Johnny's ambitions far exceed mastering this new technology, and what he is willing to sacrifice to achieve them is the driving force of the novel.
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Persons
Herbert Krause was a poet, novelist, essayist, ornithologist, and environmentalist of the Northern Plains. Born in Minnesota, he moved west over the course of his career. In 1938 he established a writing school at Augustana University (SD). He also wrote the novels Wind Without Rain (1939) and The Oxcart Trail (1954).
Patrick Hicks, who wrote the introduction, is successor to Herbert Krause as Writer-in-Residence at Augustana University. His newest book, Greater Minnesota, was published in September 2025.