Milwaukee Books
Selected Books
Engines and Other Apparatus of the Milwaukee Fire Department: An Illustrated History by Wayne Mutza "Through detailed research, firsthand narratives, and captivating photos, the author walks the reader through the fascinating history of the incredible machines that served Cream City from the mid-nineteenth century to modern times. This volume traces the ever-changing face of Milwaukee's fire-fighting and life-saving equipment in parallel with the city's own history and growth" -- Product Description |
Milwaukee's Early Architecture by Megan E. Daniels "Milwaukee developed from three pioneer settlements, those of Solomon Juneau, Byron Kilbourn, and George Walker--three hubs from which three villages radiated outward into one city." -- Product Description |
Fractured Tales of Milwaukee's Eastside by Thelma Queen Tillie Kamuchey (Author), Jim Rabbi Hanley (Contributor) A True Story About the Germans, the Poles, the Irish, the Jews, the Italians, and the Greeks |
Soul of a Port: The History and Evolution of the Port of Milwaukee (WI) by Leah Dobkin Recounts the history of the Port of Milwaukee. |
German Milwaukee: Its History-Its Recipes by Trudy Knauss Paradis, E. J. Brumder, Robin Paradis-Kent |
The Making of Milwaukee by John Gurda Written by a recognized expert in Milwaukee history, this is the story of Milwaukee from its origins up until a year before the end of the 20th century. Highly recommended. |
Making Milwaukee Mightier: Planning and the Politics of Growth, 1910-1960 by John M. Mccarthy This book looks at Milwaukee's history during a period when the city grew in surface area but declined in terms of its population rank among American cities. |
Riverwest: A community history by Thomas L Tolan Describes the history of the land west of the Milwaukee River in Milwaukee, Wisconsin north of North Avenue that is known as "Riverwest." |
Milwaukee's Live Theater by Jonathan West Tells the story of theater in Milwaukee. |
Milwaukee Braves: Heroes and Heartbreak by William Povletich Tells the story of the team that won the 1957 World Series baseball championship. |
The American Association Milwaukee Brewers by Rex Hamann, Bob Koehler The story of 51 seasons (1902-1952) at Milwaukee's Borchert Field. |
Milwaukee Television History: The Analog Years by Dick Golembiewski Traces the history, people, technology, and shows from the 1930's onward in Milwaukee, the city where the first application for a commercial TV license was filed with the FCC in 1938. |
Milwaukee County Zoo by Darlene Winter, Elizabeth Frank, Mary Kazmierczak |
Maritime Milwaukee by Wisconsin Marine Historical Society |
The Miller Beer Barons: The Frederick Miller Family and Its Brewery by Tim John The story of Fredrick J. Miller and his descendents. |
Milwaukee Sketchbook by Fran Bauer A group of 16 art students at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design walked the city of Milwaukee with sketchbooks in hand. The 123 landmarks and scenes captured in the students' artwork and reproduced in the Milwaukee Sketchbook showcase the results of those artistic explorations. |
Milwaukee's Brady Street Neighborhood by Frank D. Alioto Explore fascinating Brady Street in photos. |
Milwaukee County Parks by Laurie Muench Albano The story behind Milwaukee County's 60 square kilometers of parkland. |
Entertainment in Early Milwaukee
by Larry Widen Shows off the amusements of early Milwaukee--amusement parks, theaters, people, and places. |
Historic Photos of Milwaukee by Elizabeth Chasco |
Cream City Chronicles: Stories of Milwaukee's Past by John Gurda This is a compilation of the author's columns about Milwaukee history from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. |
Milwaukee Then and Now by Sandra Ackerman Compares archival photographs of Milwaukee to contemporary images. Over 100 photographs. |
Silver Screens: A Pictorial History of Milwaukee's Movie Theaters by Larry Widen, Judi Anderson Shows the great movie theaters from the past, when theater architecture delighted and dazzled. |
Milwaukee, Wisconsin by Richard Klatte Prestor Shows photos of Milwaukee showing life in the period 1862 to 1949. |
Milwaukee Fire Department by Wayne Mutza Former Milwaukee firefighter Wayne Mutza shows off the technical and social history of firefighters in Milwaukee. |
Life Lines: Stories from the Firehouse by Wayne Mutza Former Milwaukee firefighter Wayne Mutza tells of his experience fighting fires in Milwaukee. |
Milwaukee Police Department by Maralyn A. Wellauer-Lenius Organized in 1855, MPD has a long and proud history, and this book describes the story in words and photographs. |
Irish Milwaukee by Martin Hintz Tells about the Irish community in Milwaukee using photographs, spanning the time from early immigration to the annual Irish Fest. |
Chinese Milwauke by David B. Holmes, Wenbin Yuan The story of Chinese who came to Milwaukee. |
Italian Milwauke by Martin Hintz, Mario A. Carini The story of Italians who came to Milwaukee for jobs and settled in neighborhoods such as the Third Ward, Brady Street, and Bay View. |
Jewish Milwaukee by Martin Hintz Tells the story of the Milwaukee Jewish community's heritage and formation. |
Latinos in Milwaukee by Joseph A. Rodriguez and Walter Sava Shows the development of Milwaukee's Latino beginning as a Colonia Mexicana in the 1920s to the present time when more than 100,000 Latinos live in Milwaukee. |
Milwaukee's Bronzeville, 1900-1950 by Paul H. Geenen Traces the growth of the community along Walnut Street that came to be known as Milwaukee's Bronzeville. |
Bronzeville A Milwaukee Lifestyle by Ivory A. Black, Avory A. Black Tells of the social and cultural life of the area of Bronzeville. |
Building a Masterpiece: Milwaukee Art Museum by Milwaukee Art Museum, Franz Schulze, Russell Bowman (Introduction) Tells the story of Milwaukee Art Museum's addition, designed by Spanish engineer-architect Santiago Calatrava, hailed by Time magazine as the #1 design innovation for 2001. See also the "Calatrava" photos in the MKE album. |
Santiago Calatrava: Milwaukee Art Museum, Quadracci Pavilion by David Gordon (Foreword), Cheryl Kent, Jeff Millies (Photographer) |
Milwaukee Road Depots: 1856 Through 1954 Photo Archive by Kim D. Tschudy Photos of the depots that were the centers of communities along the railroad. |
The Milwaukee Neighborhood Map by Big Stick, Inc See 189 Milwaukee neighborhoods hand-drawn in color on a map! |
Illuminating the Particular: Photographs of Milwaukee's Polish South Side by Christel T. Maass, Roman B. J. Kwasniewski (Photographer) Shows the everyday life of the immigrant experience in Milwaukee's Polish community during the early decades of the 20th century. |
Byron Kilbourn and the Development of Milwaukee by Goodwin Berquist, Paul C. Bowers Biography of Byron Kilbourn (1801-1870), developer of early Milwaukee, a Milwaukee alderman, and elected two times mayor in 1848 and 1854. |
City-building In America by Anthony M Orum This book uses Milwaukee history as a case study to make its main point: the building of cities is marked not just by the conflict between city growth and social equity, but also a life cycle that can be summarized by stages of growth and decline made more dramatic by city v. suburban conflicts.See book notes. |
This Is Milwaukee by Robert W. Wells Recalls Milwaukee's history: the bridge wars, the red light districts, gambling, riots, clandestine stills, and more. |
Cop's Kid: A Milwaukee Memoir by Mel C. Miskimen A memoir of growing up as the child of a Milwaukee police officer. |
Bucket Boy: A Milwaukee Legend by Ernest L Meyer Covers early German life in Milwaukee |
Out at the Soldiers' home by Elizabeth Frances Corbett A young girl grows up among Civil War veterans at Wood, Wisconsin. |
The Milwaukee Story: The making of an American city by H Russell Austin |
Made in Milwaukee
Major League (1989) This is the first of the "Major League" movies (the funny one). Filmed partly at the old County Stadium. |
American Movie: The Making of Northwestern Winner at Sundance. Now on DVD Starring: Mark Borchardt, Mike Schank, et al. Director: Chris Smith. Documentary. The story of Mark Borchardt's struggle to make his movie, "Coven," which he intends to sell to fund his movie "Northwestern." The DVD includes "Coven." |
Mr. 3000, starring Bernie Mac Bernie becomes a Brewer to retake his 3000-hit record. Filmed at Milwaukee's Miller Park. Moderately favorable to tepid reviews for its theatrical release. Now on DVD. |
Chump Change "Milwaukee Steve" Burrows directs and stars in this loosely semi-autobiographical pic about his adventures in acting, commercials, screenwriting, and Hollywood; filmed in LA and in some scenes in the Milwaukee area; shows off Milwaukee at its snowiest, coldest, and cheesiest. |
Milwaukee, Minnesota A film noir in color and "my college film" are the characterizations director Allan Mindel claims for his film. With its oversaturated colors and quirky camera work, it is pretty to look at, but except for Bruce Dern's solid performance, the acting, too, is oversaturated. Shows off Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood far colder than it actually was while filming--some of the "snow" in the film is actually shaving cream. |
Milwaukee Writers
Paris by the Book by Liam Callanan Associate professor at the University of Wisconsin--Milwauke. |
The Wealth of Cities: Revitalizing the Centers of American Life by John O. Norquist (former mayor of Milwaukee) Norquist makes the case for human-centered cities to re-ignite the dynamic energy inherent in urban areas. See book notes. |
Boomerang by Brenda Cardenas Poet Laureate of Milwaukee (2010-2012) |
Milwaukee Does Strange Things to People: New and Selected Poems 1979-2007 by Susan Firer Poet Laureate of Milwaukee (2008-2009) |
The Laugh We Make When We Fall by Susan Firer Poems; Backwaters Prize winner for 2001. Firer was born and has lived most of her life in Milwaukee. |
The Lives of the Saints and Everything by Susan Firer Poems; Cleveland State University Poetry Series. |
North Point North: New and Selected Poems by John Koethe University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee philosophy professor and former Poet Laureate of Milwaukee (2000-2001) |
Antler: The Selected Poems by Antler Often published in literary magazines and winner of the Walt Whitman Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the Witter Bynner Prize from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, Antler is a former Poet Laureate of Milwaukee (2002-2003) |
Shadows Like These: Poems by Marilyn Taylor Former Poet Laureate of Milwaukee (2004-2005) |
The Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg by Carl Sandburg (lived in Milwaukee as a journalist). |
The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East by Sandy Tolan (grew up in Milwaukee). |
Me and Hank: A Boy and His Hero, Twenty-Five Years Later by Sandy Tolan (grew up in Milwaukee). |
Tombstone Blues by Larry Widen An exploration of the Mississippi Delta, Memphis, and Chicago and interviews with musicians. |
The Turk and My Mother: A Novel by Mary Helen Stefaniak A native of Milwaukee, Stefaniak received the 2005 John Gardner Fiction Book Award from Binghamton University for this novel. |
The Bradley Legacy: Lynde and Harry Bradley, Their Company, and Their Foundation by John Gurda |
The Quiet Company: A Modern History of Northwestern Mutual Life by John Gurda |