Rule number one in the blogging industry is know your audience. Just kidding, I have no idea what the rules are, I made that up for dramatic effect. But if I did know my audience, I’d be breaking the rules with this post, as I’m sure many of you haven’t read this book, have no intention of reading this book, and never will, in fact, read this book. That’s ok though, I’m a rule breaker. Just kidding, I’m actually not… I made that up for dramatic effect as well. I rarely go three mph over the speed limit, I follow almost every rule to a T, and I quiver behind authority. Anyways, I’m an avid reader, and I’m also an avid fan of Wisconsin in case you haven’t figured out. I make sure to work in a book about Wisconsin every third book I read. This was actually the first ever fully-Wisconsin book I’ve read, and I bought this book right about the time I was starting to become obsessed with this great state. It took me a while to crack it open though, but I’ve read it, so let’s review it.
Wisconsin: A History, written by Robert C. Nesbit and William F. Thompson (contributed to the most recent revision). This book is exactly what the title says, a history of Wisconsin. The first few chapters talk about the geography, geology, and early formations of the state before getting into the Native Americans that inhabited the state before it became a state. It then moves into European exploration, Wisconsin as a territory, its early settlement, and then statehood. Finally, the middle two thirds of the book covers the last 140 or so years of our statehood, from industry to politics and everything in between. It’s a thick book, with the current edition at 652 pages.
Right off the bat I want to admit I was slightly disappointed, for two reasons. Reason number one: The last time this book was updated was 1988. It needs another revision soon. A lot has happened in the 36 years since this book has been out, and another chapter or two is necessary just to cover the basics. If that was my only gripe I’d probably give this book 4.5 stars, but unfortunately there’s one other pressing, even more major issue; it’s too politically driven.
I need everyone to understand what I mean by this though, as I don’t mean political in the way you think. I’m not referring to the author subjecting us to politics we don’t agree with, the writing style is by no means political in nature (in fact quite the opposite, the book does a good job at presenting the facts and only the facts, which is exactly what you should be looking for in a non-fiction historical book), and at no point do political leanings seep out in the writing. Rather, the book for what seemed like 75% seemed to focus on Wisconsin politics. Look, I get that politics are a huge part of the history of everything, as that is how the world works, but in my opinion WAY too much of the book was focused on the political aspects of this state. I also 100% understand how important to this state Robert M. La Follette was (well, actually I didn’t until I read this book, but I would have gotten the gist of it in 2 or 3 chapters instead of 10+), but for Pete’s sake… please talk about anything else.
The book started off SO strong: awesome info about the geography/geology, the original tribes, event the settlement aspect was super interesting. With my science background I ate that stuff up! A very disappointing 1 or 2 chapters only on the industries of this state and expansion of that, and then boom… politics for the last 400 pages.
There are definitely other books out there about our great state that cover the topics I mentioned should have gotten more screen-time, and at any point I can/have read those, but to me, if you’re going to write a book and title it “Wisconsin: A History” you should, ya know, tell the whole history. Maybe I’ll pony up at some point and write a book the way it should/deserves to be written. This book was written pretty much in a linear fashion, from one year to the next. And while a timeline of events would’ve been fantastic, that’s not even what this was.
A better version (in my opinion) would’ve had this book organized into sections: Section 1 – Natural history, geography, and geology of the state. Section 2 – Native Americans. Section 3 – European exploration. Section 4 – Early Settlement. Section 5 – State formation. Section 6 – Industries throughout the state (think of things like the fur trade, the mining, the logging, the agriculture, the maritime industry, the brewing history, etc.). Section 7 – The culture. Section 8 – Politics. Section 9 – Our natural resources (flora, fauna, and abiotic factors alike). Section 10 – The future of the state. I think that would make for a killer book. A better read than what we got. One that’s comprehensive and informative that won’t turn readers away. Anyways, maybe I’ll get to it one day.
For “Wisconsin: A History” the website ‘goodreads’ has 16 ratings (one being mine), 2 reviews (one being mine), 1 person currently reading, and 32 that want to read it, so I’m fairly positive that no one reading this post has also read that book, but that’s ok, maybe one day you’ll get to it too. If you enjoy Wisconsin and want to learn more about the state, I do still think you need to read it, despite my review leaning negative at times. I gave it a 3/5, so not totally terrible. Let me know what you guys think in the comments!
Life is Too Short to Take the Fast Way 