Van Ells

Starting with the days that wooly mammoths tromped over the landscape, Mark Van Ells brings us on a journey through the fascinating history of the Badger State.

Wisconsin remembers the brutal Black Hawk War and the fall of the first Paleo-Indian residents, the booming migration of thousands of Americans, the conflicted German population during and after the two world wars, and the famous Vietnam protests of University of Wisconsin students.

Included are recommended museums, state parks, and other attractions, alongside literary excerpts from authors such as Edna Farber and Laura Ingalls Wilder, who give readers a sense of Wisconsin in different eras.

Birthplace of such cultural icons as Gene Wilder and Chris Farley, Wisconsin as revealed by Van Ells is a state rich in culture that easily outdoes the stereotypes of harsh winters and sprawling flat American dairy land.

Mark Van Ells is associate professor of history at Queensboro Community College in New York City.