Wisconsin Books

Pickled Herring And Pumpkin Pie is a reprint of a best-selling nineteenth-century German cookbook by Henriette Davidis which was adapted for Germans living in America. From Milk Soup to Colored Sugar to Meat Pie, this outstanding culinary compendium blends recipes from both the Old and New Worlds, and presents a unique glimpse into a nineteenth-century immigrant's way of life. Pickled Herring And Pumpkin Pie is an superbly presented and mouth-watering repository of classic cultural recipes that have survived the test of time.

I am an avid reader of quilt history and found this book to be a remarkable sideline item. It deals very little with the actual quilt, but rather uses it as a jumping off point to study the life of a woman who owned it. It deals directly with the hardships and lifestyles of the women who settled the country through the story of one lonesome girl uprooted by marriage.

I've lived in Wisconsin for over 20 years, but never heard of John Dietz until I happened upon this book while searching the Amazon database. Anyone interested in U.S. history of this century, particularly big business/big government vs. "the little guy" will find this book fascinating. There can be no doubt that history does repeat itself: Waco, Ruby Ridge, et. al. are just late 20th century repeats of what has come earlier. I might also add that the book presents a very graphic picture of what pioneer life was like in the deep woods of northern Wisconsin, as late as 1910. Don't be too suprised if Hollywood makes a movie based upon this book about John Dietz and his family. It reads like fiction, but it's a true story. Well done, Mr. Landers!!

One of my favorite books by one of my favorite poets...a book you should buy for your friends who say they don't like poetry because they don't understand it.

Daniels takes images from everyday urban life, including the task of making 30 burgers and 30 fries, a child catching crickets for pay from his mom, and Digger, Daniels' representation of a blue-collar worker, waiting up for his daughter on her first date. The title poem, a description of the workers in each department of a department store, is absolutely fantastic--Daniels at his disarmingly direct best. I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

Among the last islands to be discovered by man were the Seychelles - an isolated archipelago in the Indian Ocean 600 miles northeast of Madagascar. Thus the transformation of a completely wild to a largely tame landscape has been compressed into the scant two hundred years since these geologically unique granitic islands were first settled in 1770. Reconstructing this change, Dr. Sauer presents an historical account of the islands' coastal vegetaton and the shaping of its distribution patterns by natural enviroment and human activities.

Of all oceanic islands, the Seychelles may have had the longest time for vegetaton to develop by purely natural immigration and evolutionary processes. Professor Sauer traces his postulated list of over fifty aboriginal plant species mainly to arrival by regular, long-range sea dispersal. Historical plant introductions have more than doubled the number of coastal species, and he attributes nearly all of these plant immigrants to deliberate transfer from Mauritius.

Dr. Sauer's conclusions regarding the processes by which the Seychelles vegetation were derived is preceded first by an introductory sketch of the islands' natural setting. He then carefully traces the history of human intervention from obscure beginnings to the present. The historical account is strongly influenced by Professor Sauer's conviction that the interactions of plants and man are of tremendous importance to both natural and cultural history. Special consideration is given to the origin of the coconut, the rise of coconut plantations, their present domination both of the islands' economy and landscape, and the dangers inherent in a near monoculture being practiced today [circa 1967].

Present distribution patterns are characterized by photographs, transects, and maps of sample areas. Species distributions are given in detail and then generalized on the basis of both physiognomic classification and of natural and artificial vegetation types.
--- excerpt from book's dustjacket

This is an ambitious book, and one well worth reading. The effort to demonstrate the linkage of knowledge from the areas of biology and political science is a daunting task. Some may be unconvinced with Carmen's use of what he terms a constitutional approach, since it is different than standard views of this matter. Others may be put off with Carmen's dismissal of political science as a discipline. The reader will certainly know the positions that the author is taking; he is straightforward and unequivocal in his stances and some of his outspoken comments will surely not go down well with some proportion of the book's readers.

However, those who persevere and take seriously the contention that the worlds of genomics and politics cannot and should not be kept separate will find many thought-provoking arguments and new ways of looking at both human genomic research as well as the roots of human social and political behavior. In the final analysis, this is a book that will reward those who persist and read it all the way through. I recommend this book strongly.

The proverb occupies such a special place in the culture of a people that is has been a remarkably powerful tool in the hands of propagandists, whether for good or evil.
Mieder's work examines the political use of the proverb by Churchill, Hitler, and Truman, proverbial metaphors in political cartoons of the cold war, and, especially, the malevolent "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" and the ambiguous "No tickee no washee".
Extensive source notes, bibliography, and cross-indexes for names, subjects, and key words.
(The numerical rating above is a default setting within Amazon's format. This reviewer does not employ numerical ratings.)

This book is amazing. It covers in detail the sculpture of Polykleitos, a name that should be better known as it is actually his creation, the Doryphoros that makes up a large number of the surviving torsos from antiquity. The original in bronze was copied through the centuries with such frequency that the author can actually get an accurate idea of what it looked like by comparing the deatils of the surviving copies. The book covers all aspects of this celebrated sculpture with incredible detail, and the beautiful illustrations offer an entire course on classical sculpture and Greek aesthetics. The comparisons that he also makes to other famous athlete statuary both in marble and bronze is one of the most interesting and illuminating contributions of this encyclopedic work. This book is a must for all interested in classical art. We should be so lucky to have the author cover Phidias and Praxitles with the extraordinary expertise this volume demonstrates.

"Portrait of America" was a popular video documentary series in the mid-eighties, a product of collaboration between Superstation/Turner Broadcasting Corporation and Ambrose Home Video. Well-researched, each video is divided into 5 segments covering most unique historical, social, and cultural aspects of each state. Watching such an interesting documentary, each being roughly about 50 minutes long, without advertisements and other interruptions seems to be a privilege in these days!

Anyone who enjoyed Wisconsin's 150th birthday will be delighted with this book. A wonderful collection of photos to reflect on as the millenium approaches!