Minnehaha Falling: A Memoir of the 2020 Minneapolis Riots

by Michael Treat, Brenda L. Peterson, The Layoff Lady (editor)

On the morning of May 25, 2020, most Minneapolis residents worried about COVID-19 infection rates and pandemic restrictions. That all changed later that afternoon when George Floyd died in police custody. This tragic event sparked the “mostly peaceful protests” in the Twin Cities that spread nationwide. Mike realized that his family’s South Minneapolis home was at the epicenter of a social justice movement—one that rapidly devolved into days of violent civil unrest.

Minnehaha A Memoir of the 2020 Minneapolis Riots shares the untold story beyond mainstream media headlines. Mike includes a comprehensive retelling of the course of events alongside his boots-on-the-ground experiences navigating a situation that few can comprehend. Learn what it’s like to see your once-peaceful community deteriorate into one with no 9-1-1 response, riotous mobs attacking first responders, and government officials who struggle to lead.

643 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 13, 2024

About the author

Michael Treat has an extensive background in corrections, law enforcement, and private security. In addition, Mike is the owner of Condition Orange Preparedness, where he teaches courses on self-defense and personal preparedness.

Mike's media appearances often focus on riot survival based on his first-hand experiences with civil unrest. Mike is the author of the book Minnehaha Falling: A Memoir of the 2020 Minneapolis Riots. Mike is also an artist and coffee connoisseur who enjoys the solitude of cross-country road trips.

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

A day-by day account of the riots in Minneapolis following George Floyd's death written by a friend who lived very close to the areas where the protests took place.  I predict this one will be revered as a historical reference in the years to come when the events described are "memory holed."

[George Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A first person account of a Minneapolis resident during the 2020 riots. I found it interesting, it was not something I have studied in great detail previously. If you have a preparedness bend, there are a lot of interesting details and vignettes that will be thought provoking. The author definitely has his own biases and makes little bones about them. But, he does present other viewpoints. One of the more objective inclusions is the heavy use of transcripts from city and state officials' press conferences. He does let them speak for themselves and has minimal interpretation of his own. This use of transcripts is a little distracting in that it ends up being a substantial percentage of the book. It is definitely a self-published, first work, with many of the common foibles of those factors. Recommend if you are interested in the study of civil unrest, urban preparedness, or a different look at these events than you will get from either partisan media bubbles. (Note, that does not mean the author isn't partisan. However, he spends enough time talking about it, and was close enough to those events, to give a much deeper look than the average partisan source)