• Winner 2011 Award of Merit for Best Wisconsin History Book from Wisconsin Historical Society
• Finalist Indie Excellence Award for History
• Finalist ForeWard Magazine History Book of the Year

Rediscover Wisconsin history from the very beginning. A Short History of Wisconsin recounts the landscapes, people, and traditions that have made the state the multifaceted place it is today. With an approach both comprehensive and accessible, historian Erika Janik covers several centuries of Wisconsin’s remarkable past, showing how the state was shaped by the same world wars, waves of new inhabitants, and upheavals in society and politics that shaped the nation.

Swift, authoritative, and compulsively readable, Janik finds the story of a state not only in the broad strokes of immigration and politics, but in the daily lives shaped by work, leisure, sports, and culture. A Short History of Wisconsin offers a fresh understanding of how Wisconsin came into being and how Wisconsinites past and present share a deep connection to the land itself.

Reviews

“The next time I encounter someone who is planning to visit or move to Wisconsin I know exactly what gift I will give them.” – AgriView 

“A Short History of Wisconsin will appeal not only to history buffs, but to those who take an interest in how history can be made accessible to general readers.” – ForeWard Magazine

“Janik is obviously a storyteller, and this is what makes her book easy to read and understand. If you are looking for a book that puts historical facts into a list, this is not it. Janik organizes the facts so they tell a story by which readers are moved…[her] knowledge of Wisconsin history will impress even native Wisconsinites.” – Wisconsin People and Ideas