University of Iowa Books

Now in an updated and revised third edition, Iowa Past To Present: The People And The Prairie by Dorothy Schwieder, Thomas Morain, and Lynn Nielsenis a textbook-style reference and guide to the history of the state of Iowa, from the American Indians who were the first people to live there to pioneers, the toll of the civil war, Iowa farm life, and more. The emphasis of Iowa Past to Present lies with Iowa history and life before World War I; subsequent events are treated relatively briefly in comparison. Collaboratively written by Dorothy Schwieder (Trustee of the Iowa State Historical Society); Thomas J. Morain (Vice Provost for Academic Affairs for Liberal Arts, Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa); and Lynn E. Nielsen (Professor of Education, Department of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls) Iowa Past To Present is an informative, fascinating history and enthusiastically recommended students of Iowan history, events, and personalities.

Winebrenner's sardonic yet accurate view of politics and the media (specifically Iowa's politics) make for a very interesting read. Political science might be dull to some, but he keeps this book very alive with truisms (e.g. Reagan and his surprise lack of support in Iowa when he failed to bodily show up to campaign). The facts of each caucus and the pre-caucus activity leading up to them are well-chronicled. The index is very well done, making specific events and people, both media-types and political-types simple to find in the text.

The book is very well proportioned for viewing stereographs which are presented full size and intact. Subjects and photographers are well indexed. Very pleased with my copy, an excellent companion to Darrah, Zeller, and Waldsmith.

Excellent book about a brave and fascinating man, one of the forgotten heroes of Shiloh and other battles. This is a true story of someone who sought the American dream, found it, and lived it fully.

This is the only book in print on the Ioway Indian tribe, originally located in Iowa, and now in two branches, one in Kansas-Nebraska and one in Oklahoma. The first edition was hardback and published in 1979; this second edition is paperback and published in 1995, with a valuable NEW section about the modern Ioway. The updated version listed here has an additional and very useful chapter that brings the book up to contemporary times.

"This account is the first extensive ethnohistory of the Ioway Indians, whose influence -- out of all proportion to their numbers -- stemmed partly from the strategic location of their homeland between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. ...Beginning with archaeological sites in northeast Iowa, Martha Royce Blaine traces Ioway history from ancient to modern times. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, French, Spanish, and English traders vied for the tribe's favor and for permission to cross their lands. The Ioways fought in the French and Indian War in New York, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, but ultimately their influence waned as they slowly lost control of their sovereignty and territory. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Ioways were separated in reservations in Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian Territory [Oklahoma]. A new preface by the author carries the story to modern times and discusses the present status of and issues concerning the Oklahoma and the Kansas and Nebraska Ioways." [From the book cover]

This is an essential book for members of the tribe, for those researching the Ioway's history and culture, and for anyone interested in the history and landscape of the American Midwest. Some have remarked the book is a bit academic in its approach rather than aimed at the popular market. I am a member of the Ioway tribe myself, and am a scholar of our language, history, archaeology, and culture, and I highly recommend it.
Every Iowa tribal member should have a copy of this book, as well as anyone else interested in Iowa history!

Ellen FitzSimmons Steinberg literally tripped over a collection of Irma Rosenthal Frankenstein's diaries in a Southern Illinois used bookstore where they had languished for years (Happily today they are now in the collections of the Chicago Jewish Archives). She weaves together a delightful biography of a woman who hadn't thought herself important; and yet Irma corresponded with Carl Sandburg and partook in nature walks with Jen Jensen and the likes of Laredo Taft. She was a mother and a middle class housewife who took time from her day to keep a diary. Her notes are invaluable glimpses into the past of a city on the make, and from the time of the great Chicago fire to the post World War period.

At age 88 when most women have resigned themselves, Irma Rosenthal Frankenstein was an active part of a grass roots movement to save the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore as a National Park. She published a story about an outing to the dunes she had taken many years before in November 1917, and back when the movement to save the dunes as a park from Gary to Michigan City was in its infancy.

Alas the movement to save the Indiana dunes was tabled with the outbreak of WWI. The slogan `First Save the Country then Save the Dunes' was a battle cry that was forgotten as soon as the war ended and after a tiny state park was established in 1923. By mid century with Big Business about to gobble up the most precious part of the remaining un-saved dunes, several ladies from Ogden Dunes began an effort to rescue the enchanting bald and forest covered sand hills, and that had from time immemorial been a beach retreat for Chicagoans who lived up the lakeshore and across the state line in Illinois.

It was during this last big push to save the lakeshore dunes that in1958, the widow of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who had suffered a heart attack and from her hospital bed in Chicago orchestrated the publication of "The Chronicle of the Befogged Dune Bugs." Her adventure story became a fundraiser for the Save the Dunes Council; the group that battled the big steel companies and other intimidating interests in the halls of Congress. After several years the ladies won the war, when Congress established the creation of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in November 1966 but in the battle had lost the most important part of the dunes. Irma had also died the previous January 1966.

Her interesting life story lives on because of the good fortune of a contemporary who stumbled onto her notes and charitably published a story Irma had always hoped to.

Trent D. Pendley, President, Indiana Jewish Historical Society

It's been a few years after this book was published, and I still come back to it with the kind of fervency it originally called up in me. Why? Because it's prayer where "No church utters up." Because Wilson rewrites W.C. Williams' dictum, "No ideas but in things," to read "All my material/idea." Because its crush of diction and alliteration-- how the latinate and vernacular are woven together through consonance and assonance--thrills the ear and mind simultaneously: "when you've turned yourself/out I'll come to//perennial/paresthesias//the cosmos all//obviate." Because, in a way unique in contemporary letters, the spiritual, natural and moral all meet here fitfully in "unquiet/country," in a poetry of the natural world that makes nature neither pure solace nor utterly alien, but, much like Wilson's conception of God, it is, heartbreakingly, "Unknown but you are." Because of the uncertainty inherent in this world view, the voice of this book is often "Pinched to the far wrong side of pleasure," caught in the line-break between doubt and faith, observation and emotion--and each time I read the book, I learn from this struggle: "Let the good I am bide a little longer."

A Kind Of Fate: Agricultural Change In Virginia, 1861-1920 surveys farming in Virginia through the experiences of Jacob Manning and his son James. We read about their individual struggles, the impact of the Civil War, contrasts between farming and country life, Jacob having to farm through the harsh times of the Civil War, his son James farming experiences during a post-war time of rising prosperity. Author Terry Sharrer (curator of health sciences at the Smithsonian Institutions, Washington, D.C.) focuses on the changes in agriculture and its shift from crop-focused to livestock-dominated farming. Highly recommended, scholarly, worthwhile and informative reading, A Kind Of Fate is a superbly written and presented American regional and agricultural history

This is a catalogue of Lasansky prints : 1933-1973, compiled by John Thein and Phillip Lasansky under the direction of Mauricio Lasanksy. Profusely illustrated with both color and black and white prints.

I first read this book almost fifty years ago as a teenager. A friend had given a copy to my father as a going away present, when he set out to emigrate to America. Even though my parents were much too late to homestead or farm, this story gave me a clear understanding of the promise of America for the immigrant. The hero of the narrative is a poor day laborer's child on one of the large estates of the Kaiser's Germany. He grows up in a one room cabin, which is shared by the livestock, if any. As a teen he emigrates to America.

He does not find the streets paved with gold. Life is never easy. A son almost dies of diphtheria. Home made carts set to run on the rails, are demolished by trains. Bad years come after good. Hired help is difficult to find. But with hard work, honesty, a devoted wife, and time he builds a good life, a family and farm in Iowa. Nothing like this would have been possible at home.

Richard Trost has given us a clear translation, which lovingly reflects the idealism of the original. He also has given careful attention to Americanizing the frequent north German dialect expressions of the original. Anyone who is interested in the immigrant experience will find this book a must reading. It is also a very enjoyable story.