The Bark River valley in southeastern Wisconsin is a microcosm of the state's - indeed, of the Great Lakes region's - natural and human history. "The Bark River Chronicles" reports one couple's journey by canoe from the river's headwaters to its confluence with the Rock River and several miles farther downstream to Lake Koshkonong. Along the way, it tells the stories of Ice Age glaciation, the effigy mound builders, the Black Hawk War, early settlement and the development of waterpower sites, and recent efforts to remove old dams and mitigate the damage done by water pollution and invasive species. Along with these big stories, the book recounts dozens of little stories associated with sites along the river. The winter ice harvest, grain milling technology, a key supreme court decision regarding toxic waste disposal, a small-town circus, a scheme to link the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River by canal, the murder of a Chicago mobster, controversies over race and social class in Waukesha County's lake country, community efforts to clean up the river and restore a marsh, visits to places associated with the work of important Wisconsin writers - these and many other stories belong to the Bark River chronicles. For the two voyageurs who paddle the length of the Bark, it is a journey of rediscovery and exploration. As they glide through marshes, woods, farmland, and cities, they acquire not only historical and environmental knowledge but also a renewed sense of the place in which they live. Maps and historical photographs help the reader share their experience.

The first three books in L.G. Surgeson's 'Black River Chronicles', a series of fantasy novels, now available in one volume! Summer of Fire: To speak of a time before the Summer of Fire is to speak of a time more than four hundred years gone by. Very few have a genuine understanding of what lead to the time known as the Summer of Fire, of the rising powers that had grown with the patience of mountains. Only in looking back could scholars completely understand the full scale of events that preceded it. It is particularly difficult to distinguish what came 'before', as this is a relative term. Each individual will have a point in time that they consider to be the time 'before', after which their life will have irrevocably changed. General consensus suggests that by 1099 AC it was already too late. But for some, it started long before that. For some of them will live, some of them will die, and some of them will last forever. The Winter That Follows: The Summer of Fire has burned away. The younger gods and their champion have defeated Krynok the Hunter, General Salamander has been destroyed, and slowly Tartaria is reuniting to heal the Clans and the land. Those who survived find themselves standing amongst the ruins with empty hearts, waiting for faces they will never see again. It has not occurred to many that this might be the greatest challenge of all. For once the glorious struggles of the Summer are over, they will have to find their way through the Winter That Follows. The Freetown Bridge: Any who believe the Freetown Bridge to be a monument to freedom have sadly misjudged the dark intent of the Frisian Inquisition. Thousands of slaves have been snatched to help with its construction, and the fears of its purpose are building across the continent. Shrouded in mystery and heavily guarded, the Bridge nears completion. Unable to stop themselves, a small group of adventurers from Aberddu seek to join those who would destroy it. A ragtag gang of mercenaries, priests and greenskins prepare to stand up to the might of the Red Inquisition, before they discover that the enemy is closer than they realised.

Cream City Chronicles is a collection of lively stories about the people, the events, the landmarks, and the institutions that have made Milwaukee a unique American community. These stories represent the best of historian John Gurda’s popular Sunday columns that have appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel since 1994. Find yourself transported back to another time, when the village of Milwaukee was home to fur trappers and traders. Follow the development of Milwaukee’s distinctive neighborhoods, its rise as a port city and industrial center, and its changing political climate. From singing mayors to summer festivals, from blueblood weddings to bloody labor disturbances, the collection offers a generous sampling of tales that express the true character of a hometown metropolis.

In 1890 the Lauerman brothers opened a general store in the lumber-boom town of Marinette, Wisconsin. The business prospered, and soon the brothers abandoned their small quarters on Main Street for a magnificent department store on Dunlap Square in the heart of Marinette. Thanks to the Lauermans’ devotion to offering diverse merchandise, superior customer service, and loyalty to their employees, the store would remain a lively, vital part of the Marinette fabric for one hundred years. This book traces the history of the Lauerman enterprise and its importance to the community of Marinette and dozens of counties in northern Wisconsin and the UP. The author takes readers on a tour of the store’s most memorable and delightful features, from the plethora of merchandise offered to the record-listening booths to the famous frosted malt cones. Along the way we hear the recollections of dozens of former customers and employees whose memories form a unique tapestry of family, business, and community story. As it brings to life the people who worked and shopped at Lauermans, Something for Everyone will have readers fondly recalling their own favorite shopping destinations during the golden age of department stores.

In this fantasy/allegory, Rogers retells the life of biblical character King David.

After the land of Falanor falls, Kell is hunted by the machine-vampires called the Vachine and, while recruiting reinforcements to launch the counter attack, becomes the target of two beautiful, but lethal, vampire assassins. Original.