Milwaukee Through History

"Milwaukee's story is unique in that its struggle for integration and quality education has been so closely tied to [school] choice." --from the Introduction "Educating Milwaukee: How One City's History of Segregation and Struggle Shaped Its Schools" traces the origins of the modern school choice movement, which is growing in strength throughout the United States. Author James K. Nelsen follows Milwaukee's tumultuous education history through three eras--"no choice," "forced choice," and "school choice." Nelsen details the whole story of Milwaukee's choice movement through to modern times when Milwaukee families have more schooling options than ever--charter schools, open enrollment, state-funded vouchers, neighborhood schools--and yet Milwaukee's impoverished African American students still struggle to succeed and stay in school. "Educating Milwaukee" chronicles how competing visions of equity and excellence have played out in one city's schools in the modern era, offering both a cautionary tale and a "choice" example.

"The Making of Milwaukee chronicles the history of a hometown metropolis, a community whose past has produced one of the most livable big cities in America and, at the same time, created some daunting social and economic problems. John Gurda's book is the first full-length history of Milwaukee to appear since 1948."--BOOK JACKET.

A tribute to Milwaukee's German heritage, this book reflects on the cultural influence of Germans on the city and features traditional German recipes from local restaurants and family kitchens.

From City Hall to the Pabst Theater, reminders of the past are part of the fabric of Milwaukee. Yet many historic treasures have been lost to time. An overgrown stretch of the Milwaukee River was once a famous beer garden. Blocks of homes and apartments replaced the Wonderland Amusement Park. A quiet bike path now stretches where some of fastest trains in the world previously thundered. Today's Estabrook Park was a vast mining operation, and Marquette University covers the old fairgrounds where Abraham Lincoln spoke. Author Carl Swanson recounts these stories and other tales of bygone days.

In One People, Many Paths, Gurda excels at the complicated task of writing a fair-minded narrative about a community united in diversity. Milwaukee's first Jews were mostly enterprising businessmen who came with the great German immigration after 1848. The community changed with the arrival of Jews from Eastern Europe with distinctly different customs. Gurda discusses religion and secularism, socialism and Zionism and the various movements with Judaism in the overall context of Milwaukee history and the situation of Jews worldwide. One People, Many Paths also shows how the entrepreneurial, intellectual and cultural contributions by the city's Jewish residents over the past have made Milwaukee a richer place. - by David Luhrssen for ExpressMilwaukee.com.