No comments about A Handbook of Scandinavian Names.

No comments about Wisconsin: River Of 1000 Isles: River Of A Thousand Isles (North Coast Books).

1 comments about The Wisconsin Frontier (A History of the Trans-Appalachian Frontier).

1. This book traces the development of Wisconsin from its days as a French outpost to the farming and lumber empire it eventually became. Wisconsin experienced a gradual northwest growth from north of Chicago to the port at Superior. But this is not to say its history is either dull or predictable. The mightly rivers that dissect the state and the several Indain tribes that originally called Wisconsin home had much influence over the whites who eventually became known as the states first "settlers."
   
   This account is fast-paced and is an interesting read. People from this part of the country will enjoy reading about the formation of their state. The modern Republican Party owes its birth to Wisconsin as does the former political movement known as "Progressivism." Wisconsin also boasts of being a leading (former the leading) dairy-producing state. Timber barons denuded its northern forests (some never grew back, and would be miners found a small amount of iron.
   
   Wisconsin has a dynamic past and this book captures that development superbly.

1 comments about The WPA Guide to Wisconsin: The Federal Writers' Project Guide to 1930s Wisconsin.

1. This is a wonderful book! I fish lakes in the Hackensack, MN area on a regular basis and have just started fishing Ten Mile for smallmouth bass. This book is fascinating, and Dr. Carlson does a wonderful job of simply telling the story of a northern Minnesota lake. Not only is the book very interesting, as a fisherman, I find it to be full of invaluable information. As a Christian who believes in a young earth, however, I am disappointed in the pseudo-scientific references to evolution and millions of years, but I have become sadly accustomed to such jargon in books like this. Other than that - which I am sure won't bother most readers - Dr. Carlson's book is absolutely worth the price. Thank you, Dr. Carlson, for writing this book.

1 comments about History Just Ahead: Guide To Wisconsin's Historical Markers.

1. History Just Ahead: A Guide To Wisconsin's Historical Markers is an impressively presented guide to Wisconsin's numerous historical markers, identifying and designated key people, places, and events in the Badger State's history. Profusely illustrated throughout, History Just Ahead is divided regionally into Southeast, South Central, Southwest, Northwest, and Northeast sections. Each section is preceded with a regional map, the villages, towns, and cities within each region are presented alphabetically. Very highly recommended for personal as well as Wisconsin school and community library collections, this authoritative, "user friendly" guide is enhanced with an informative introduction, a "How to Use the Guidebook" section, a Map of Wisconsin, a Photo of State Historical Marker, a numerical list of official Wisconsin historical markers, and a comprehensive index.

5 comments about Every Farm Tells a Story: A Tale of Family Farm Values.

1. Jerry Apps magnificently captures the heart and soul of growing up on a small family farm in EVERY FARM TELLS A STORY. His youth was spent in rural central Wisconsin half-a-century ago, but the character of the culture he writes about was not unlike that of much of rural Middle America in those times. The book is based on his Ma's journal accounting of all the family's expenses and revenues through the years, but the anecdotes take you back to all the stories behind those numbers. Apps shares with us how all the entries were, indeed, more than just numbers - they had meaning and context in the bigger picture of what farm life was all about. In a comfortable and enjoyable style, he tells stories of family values, the hard times and good times, the honest dealings and fair play that caused most farm kids back then to grow up with integrity and a solid work ethic. EVERY FARM TELLS A STORY is a great read, but it's much more than just nostalgia. In a personal and sometimes almost poetic way, it documents a significant part of our country's historical heritage.



2. I loved this book on American farm life! It is well-written, interesting and one of the best on this subject, in my opinion. I have just ordered several other of Jerry Apps books.



3. This book is worth every penny! It makes great bedtime reading as the chapters are short, and Jerry Apps is brilliant with a pen. The real tales of his hard-working family and their farm are immensely enjoyable. I would highly recommend this one.



4. I was lucky enough to be brought up on a small family dairy farm in WI. My folks, older siblings, and relatives talked wistfully about the threshing crews, haymaking, and dealing with the cows. The author did a good job documenting the way a WI dairy farm ran in the 1950's and how it impacted and shaped a family.



5. This is an excellent book if you grew up on a farm in the 50's and 60's. I read it cover to cover. It's an "easy read"; hard to put down...like a good novel. It brought me back to the good old days!

5 comments about The Making of Milwaukee.

1. For anyone who has lived in Milwaukee or has ancestors who have lived there, this book is definitely a "must read". What makes it so interesting and informative, apart from the author's lucid and refreshing style, is the liberal use of photographs of persons, places, things and events representing the era being described, as well as, numerous maps and charts clarifying the subject matter. We found it helpful to have a street map of Milwaukee, which we frequently referred to. By the effective use of illustrations on almost every page to illuminate the text material, author Gurda has succeeded in producing as close to a "living history" as a book can become.

   Beginning with the area's first native inhabitants encountered by French fur traders Jacques Vieau and Solomon Juneau near the confluence of the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic rivers where they empty into Lake Michigan, the author fashions a detailed and colorful mosaic of Milwaukee's history down to the close of the twentieth century. In the second half of the nineteenth century the population of the city grew rapidly as immigrants from Europe sought escape from political persecution and successive crop failures. Most of the new arrivals were from Germany and they were very successful in transferring their customs and culture to their adopted city. Milwaukee reigned as the nation's "Deutsch Athen" until the beginning of World War I. "Gemutlichkeit", a cozy atmosphere for making one's self at home, became Milwaukee's trademark. The city's Teutonic influence was apparent in its beer gardens, choral and gymnastic societies, stage productions and German language newspapers, as well as in the thrift and industry characteristic of its workers.

   Political and social scientists are sure to delight in author Gurda's account of Milwaukee's Socialist government and the manner in which successive municipal governments dealt with the social problems of an era. With but few interruptions, Milwaukee's Socialist Mayors ruled from 1910 to 1940. The first was Emil Seidel whose private secretary was Carl Sandburg who went on to win Pulitzer prizes in poetry and history, but the most noteworthy of them was Daniel Hoan who ruled Milwaukee for 19 years. A former city attorney who had parlayed his role as protector of the public weal against The Milwaukee Electric Power Company, he brought honesty and efficiency to the city's government. Time magazine, in its cover article of 1936, wrote: "Daniel Webster Hoan remains one of the nation's ablest public servants, and under him Milwaukee has become perhaps the best governed city in the U.S." It must be noted, however, that Milwaukee's Socialists were pragmatic rather than extremist in practice. Without abandoning their principles, they were able to accomplish many significant things by compromise and example despite the fact that they most often lacked a majority on the city council. The book clearly points out that Milwaukee bcame famous for many things other than beer and Harley Davidson motorcycles. To name but a few: its world famous system of neighborhood parks, its zoo, harbor and dock facilities for ocean going vessels, heavy industries, tanneries, foundries and machine tool manufacturing. It also became famous for the pride with which homeowners maintained their property. The extensive eight page bibliography provides a valuable resource to the reader wishing to further explore a particular historical point, and the twelve page index proved to be an easy route to the book's subject matter.

   It is not hyperbole to say that author John Gurda's book seems destined to become one of the most fascinating and easily read accounts of American municipal history ever written. Genealogists, in particular, will appreciate the following wise observation found in the author's Forward: "I am firmly convinced that, as the velocity of change increases, it is increasingly important to rebuild our connections with the past, whether the past involves our families, our home communities, or our entire society. We do so not for comfort but for context, not to feed a misplaced sense of nostalgia but to broaden our understanding of the world around us. History, at its root, is why things are the way they are."




2. Milwaukee, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. Those of you who have never been to Milwaukee, or -God forbid- only know what makes the news (kids beating a man to death on a porch, how much the Brewers suck, or Jeffrey Dahmer) ought to invest some time in this midwestern jewel. This is a nice book that helps explain the vibrant background of this metro area of 1.7 million. Famous folks weave through the narrative and we learn about the making of such places as the world famous Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee Art Museum, Miller Brewing, the world reknowned Milwaukee County Museum of Natural History, the Schlitz Audubon Center, and the Mitchell Park Horticultural Domes. John Gurda, resident historian, provides an in-depth view of these places and many other items that have shaped Milwaukee; the settling of the area, bridge wars, the growth of the city and suburbs, annexation battles, public services, neighborhood developent and decline, civil rights, urban blight, changes in industry and service trades, freeway construction etc. etc. The book is also peppered throughout with wonderful archival photographs. A must for any student of urban studies or public administration.

   Recommended.




3. This is an enjoyable and highly educational contribution to the field of urban history. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, "the Cream City" (the name is derived from the cream color of the bricks used in many of its early buildings -- clay from local quarries was yellow rather than orange or red) tends to be belittled or overlooked with Chicago to its South and Minneapolis and St. Paul to its Northwest.
   
   That's a shame because Milwaukee has a unique and colorful history of its own apart from its more prominent regional neighbors. To the extent that Milwaukee's history has been obscured or neglected, John Gurda's book redresses that oversight.
   
   The author does a thorough job of charting the city's growth from its first settlement by various Indian tribes (Pottawanomi, Chippewa and Menomee) retreating from the hostile Iroquois, visits by explorers such as Father Marquette and Louis Joliet, and its satellite status as a secondary trading post for fur trappers based in the larger city of Green Bay, Wisconsin employed by their parent company in Montreal, Quebec. Following the War of 1812, in which both the Americans and the British claimed victory, an exclusion act was passed and many French Canadians had to leave the territory or apply for American citizenship. With the fur trade in decline, early inhabitants turned their attention to real estate development and exploiting the excellent harbor that made the Port of Milwaukee a major destination for ships on the Great Lakes.
   
   Large scale emigration from Europe coincided with the admission of Wisconsin to the union as a state. Germans fleeing from the Revolution of 1848 made Milwaukee their adopted home and made an indelible impression upon the city. Gurda also relates how the loss of the steamship, "The Lady Elgin," which sank after a collision with a lumber boat near Winnetka, Illinois, devastated Milwaukee's Irish community. Many prominent Irish civic leaders were aboard the ill fated excursion ship.
   
   The railroad and real estate speculators, the industrialists, the brewers and the socialists are all included in the story as well as Milwaukee's working relationship and economic and social rivalry with Chicago. As a flatlander with numerous relatives in the Badger State and in the Beer City, I know some of the details by heart and have the bruises to prove it, but John Gurda taught me some new angles. Profiles of important local nineteenth century leaders such as Juneau, Kilbourn, Mitchell and others are included.
   
   The book is lavishly illustrated with drawings, photographs and detailed maps. Milwaukee's geography played a large role in the city's development and the sectional politics that divided various ethnic groups to the present day.



4. There isn't much to say that hasn't already been said by the previous reviews. I was born in Milwaukee and will be returning to the city after completing my education, and I wanted to get a strong historical background on the city that I will once again be calling home. This book definitely does the trick! Reading it is like going into a time machine and experiencing the city that used to be, and observing how the city became what it is today over time. So many aspects of our town that you've never thought twice about are explained, and it really brings a renewed appreciation for the city and all of the people who are responsible for what it has become. After reading this book, you'll see the city in an entirely different way, almost like going from two dimensions to three.
   
   It is definitely a must-read for any proud Milwaukeean, and it's probably a worthwhile book for urbanists and folks interested in rust belt cities as well. Particularly for the Milwaukee native, there are countless "wow" and "no kidding" moments that are worth the price. Also, the pictures throughout the book provide an excellent visual foundation that you can build upon by your imagination while reading the stories of our local forefathers. I can't recommend this book enough.



5. John Gurda has given us hometownees a remarkably detailed and readable history of our city. I am enjoying reading about the earliest days when the Native Americans were the "Milwaukeeans".
   Thanks, John, for a delightful look back into our city's development.

1 comments about Badger Boneyards: The Eternal Rest of the Story.

1. Enjoyable read. Easy to pick up and start where you left off. Interesting historical information. If you are someone who enjoys cemeteries you will enjoy this book.

5 comments about The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism (Wisconsin Project on American Writers).

1. AS a reader intimately interested in pragmatism I came to this book in anticipated expectancy. Unfortunately Cornel West has managed to write something I could scarcely credit: a book which makes pragmatism and pragmatists seem turgid and boring. I think this is primarily because West's own interests seem always to be overpowering his descriptions of the pragmatists he is writing about. West wants to write a manifesto but he has dressed it up as a genealogy. Unfortunately for this reader the clothes don't fit properly and what is presented seems vaguely ridiculous. I don't mean to be rude. Apparently in the States West is something of an intellectual celebrity who writes on matters of race and religion. In my own locality West is unknown and his agenda seems just as foreign. His idea of pragmatism as "cultural criticism" is the one bright spark in this book that I will take away from it. However, as his interests and mine are doomed to be forever different the lasting impression this book leaves is one of a writer over-intellectualising what is meant to be a philosophy of plain common-sense. Sorry Cornel, we just didn't hit it off.



2. Nothing I could say about this book would be as compelling as reading an excerpt from it. Any excerpt. The writing lumbers with precisely that kind of late adolescent turgidity and overweaning insistence that makes reading undergraduate papers so unbearable; the argument is nothing more than a series of unsupported and simple-minded generalities; the depth of scholarship reaches about as far as the water in a children's wading pool. The only thing this forgettable little book establishes is that Cornel West knows as little about pragmatism as he does about effective writing. But as I said, don't take my word for it. Read the excerpt and see for yourself.



3. This is an excellent, highly subtle book. It is interesting and persuasive on the American pragmatists, there are especially interesting comments on Dewey and Peirce, who are new to me, but equally perceptive judgments and assessments of such major thinkers as Roberto Unger and Michel Foucault.
   
   As with anything written by Professor West, the vibes in the prose are powerful and mixed: the rythms of jazz and subtle tones of Harvard-accented English (yes, there is such a thing!), blend smoothly with more familiar idioms to render the scholarly assessments, at least for me, MORE and NOT LESS vital and organic.
   
   The passion for empowered democracy comes through here, as it always does with West, and so does the Christian sentiment. I would say that there is in this excellent book a bit of the Christian Romanticism that Professor West attributes to Unger.
   
   Fine book, let us hope for more from Professor West.



4. Cornel West has achieved public recognition as an intellectual activist, speaker, and writer on African-American studies and on black theology. He was one of a small number of University Professors -- those who are authorized to teach beyond Departmental boundaries -- at Harvard until 2001, when he took a position at Princeton. Although his PhD is in philosophy, West's philosophical studies are less well-known than is his social activism. But his early book, "The American Evasion of Philosophy: A Genealogy of Pragmatism" (1989) is an impressive study of the history of a distinctly American movement in philosophy. The book covers a broad terrain, from philosophy to literary criticism to politics and social activism. The book includes much that is insightful in its exposition of major American thinkers, some material that is suggestive, and other material that may be provocative, if slapdash.
   
   As the title suggests, a major theme of West's book is the manner in which American pragmatism "evades" philosophy. West argues that American philosophy does so by avoiding the Cartesian epistemological questions of representationalism (relationship between subject and object) that have been the bane of Western thought. West further argues that pragmatism "evades" philosophy by focusing on relations of social structure and power rather than mere intellectualizing. Finally, for West, pragmatism "evades" philosophy by focusing on the human subject, including particularly "constraints that reinforce and reproduce hierarchies based on class, race, gender, and sexual orientation." (p. 4)
   
   West begins his study with an excellent discussion of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Many scholars have discussed the relationship between Emerson's transcendentalism and pragmatism. West gives a thougtful analysis, focusing on Emerson's individualism, forward-looking vision and hope for a developing participatory American democracy. But West also sees Emerson as a representative of a modestly racist and hierarchical society bound too tightly, West argues, to middle-class American values and too little inclusivie of women, African-Americans, immigrants, Indians, and other people.
   
   West then proceeds through the early pragmatists, Charles Peirce and William James in treatments that are sympathetic but short. The philosopher that receives the greatest attention in the book is John Dewey with his instrumentalism and social and political concerns. James and Peirce had little direct to say about social issues, while Dewey, with his background in Hegel and in Darwin, tried to foster community involvement and empowerment, through finding an appropriate method to address and circumvent specific problems rather than through the use of philosophical abstractions.
   
   West offers intruiging discussions of five thinkers who are not often grouped together, Dewey's student Sidney Hook, the sociologist C. Wright Mills, the African American scholar and activist W.E.B DuBois, the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, and the literary critic Lionel Trilling, as he shows the different ways each of these thinkers took and modified some of the tenets of pragmatism in the middle-years of the 20th Century. I found West's exposition of these thinkers helpful even though I have serious doubts about West's philosophical direction.
   
   West returns to contemporary American philosophy in his treatment of the works of Quine and Richard Rorty, and he all-too-briefly discusses the views of radical thinkers including Roberto Unger and Foucault.
   
   Throughout the book, West argues for what he terms a prophetic pragmatism which continues the non-Cartesian character of the pragmatic project but informs it for West with a social analysis that recognizes the claims of those West claims are exluded from full participation in American democracy -- African Americans, women, the poor, to have their voices heard. West's position has strong components of Marxism and of radical theology in addition to pragmatism. To me, West does not explain how these theories fit together or their relationship to pragmatism. He also does little to persuade the reader about the value of Marxism or, for that matter, of the value of his form of theology but rather seems to thrust these teachings upon the reader. Very properly, West invokes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as his paradigmatic type of leader. As West points out, King was not a pragmatist, and the connection West sees between King and even a "prophetic pragmatism" remains undeveloped.
   
   The main point that West makes in his discussion of American philosophy up to the time of Dewey -- that it was overly concerned with matters such as the relationship between science and religion and insufficiently attuned to social issues has been made by other writers in less polemical studies of American thought. Interested readers may want to consult Bruce Kucklick's "A History of Philosophy in America 1720-2000" and Louis Menand's famous book, "The Metaphysical Club", both of which share, in general terms, West's views of the virtues and possible shortcomings of pragmatism. For those wanting alternative but related views, there is a recent study of the idealist philosopher Josiah Royce by Frank Oppenheim, S.J., "Reverence for the Relations of Life." This book is written from a modern, idealistic perspective. Oppenheim focuses on the work of Peirce and Royce, rather than Dewey, and describes them in terms of "prophetic pragmatism" due to their openness to spirituality in human life and to the attempt in Royce's case, to argue for the creation of a "beloved community" -- the term later adopted by Martin Luther King as the benchmark for a just and humane society.
   
   Robin Friedman



5. This is the first book I have read by Professor West, and it was a good beginning. Published some time ago (1989), this text is still timely--especially if, like myself, you are not well-acquainted with philosophical pragmatism. Pragmatism is *the* unique contribution of America to philosophy, an entirely original approach that regards all forms of thinking as an experiment, rightly valued and validated on the basis of "what works." Professor West identifies pragmatism's origin with Ralph Waldo Emerson, and traces its major development in the thinking of William James, Thomas Dewey, and Charles Peirce. He reviews various critiques of and by pragmatic thinkers, and presents his own strain of "prophetic pragmatism," intended to politically engage that philosophy in addressing the social issues and challenges of our time.
   
   The text contains substantial documentation, and the breadth of Professor West's philosophical knowledge is evident. While not myself a subscriber to pragmatism, I gained a very useful grounding in its roots, approach, and some of its limitations. I highly recommend this book for both the serious student of philosophy, and someone looking for a pretty accessible introduction to pragmatism.

1 comments about Battle of Valle Giulia: Oral History and the Art of Dialogue.

1. When I told a colleague I was reading a book on Oral History, we both cringed. I had to go on to say it "isn't like that." This is a book that uses people's words about their experience as a clue into the complexity of human history. When historians relate "what happened", they are furthering an establishment version of events. As this book shows, some of the events that people who lived through it recount as most important aren't recorded *anywhere*. Likewise, the accounts that are recorded as history are sometimes considered insignificant by the participants.

   Another aspect of this book that is interesting is its cross cultural perspective. The author is able to interpret oral texts in both English and Italian, and has done research in Kentucky and in Italy. His background also allows for literary interpretation, demonstrating that when transcribing oral history, care must be taken to accurately recount verb tenses and pronouns as a way of demonstrating whether a person is stating what happened, or how they interpret what happened, or how they have rationalized what happened to fit their current viewpoint.