This is your typical Jerry Apps book, with lots of facts and figures. While it is certainly well-researched, it is somewhat slow reading. I would have appreciated more stories and anecdotes that told the story of Wisconsin Agriculture. I do like the fact that Apps takes some time to talk about Woodland Culture and French Fur-Trappers in the beginning, and that he maintains a broad view of agriculture (not just corn and cows but cranberries, cheese, furs, X-mas trees) throughout. Apps also spends a lot of time talking about the agricultural education efforts of the University of Wisconsin and it's offshoots (UWEX for example). While important to the story, I felt maybe too much time was spent there. What I'd really like Apps to write is a James Michener Centennial-type story about a rural Wisconsin community and the farms there, which is mostly based on facts. ( )

Wisconsin history is saturated with its agriculture heritage and Jerry Apps woven the two together in this delightful book from the Wisconsin Historical Press. Beginning with the glaciers that molded the Wisconsin landscape he carries the story through the Indians, pioneers, settlers, the wheat era that gave way to the Dairy State and the many supporting roles that make up the history of Wisconsin Agriculture.

The story is a progression of economic activity including mining and logging, fruits and vegetables, and processed foods including cheese and wine. Apps does an excellent job of relating his threads to larger themes in Wisconsin and American history. He shows how the secession of the cotton and sugar producing states during the Civil War stimulated booms in Wisconsin sheep and sorghum production and World War II shortages brought a revival of sorghum and made poultry an American staple. He relates how German immigrant brewers created a demand for hops. Agriculture provided the soil in which the “Wisconsin Idea”, that the limits of the University of Wisconsin are the boundaries of the state, took root as academians taught advanced farming methods from the lakes to the rivers. The saga of Wisconsin agriculture has many parts, including the North Country cranberries, Door County cherries, a wide variety of apples suited to diverse growing conditions, the hay grown for cattle, fish farming and mink raising. I learned new facts, such as why a silo is round, the way cranberries and cherries are harvested and how cooperatives shaped the rural landscape. Not limited to the past, readers are led up to the present and left with the challenges facing the Wisconsin farmer of the future.

This tome is a combination of narration and side bars with a generous selection of pictures that bring its words to life. Though not a resident of Wisconsin I am a frequent visitor. I enjoy its history, of which I now know more, have fond memories of visits to an aunt and uncle’s farm, which this rekindled, and appreciate The Badger State’s sights, of which I have more to look for. This is a book to read, set aside, refer to and leave out for your guests to page through. Jerry Apps has given us a treasure. Savor it!

I did receive a copy of this book to read and review. ( )