The immensely varied topography of Wisconsin provides examples of nearly every important physiographic process and topographic form. In the Driftless Area to the southwest, wind and water have weathered and carved away the countryside; along the Mississippi and other rivers are found most of the essential features of stream erosion and deposition; in the north and east glaciers have ground away the hills and left their mark on the plains and swamps. The Physical Geography of Wisconsin, reprinted from the second edition, 1932, of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Bulletin No. XXXVI (1916), offers a clear explanation of these and many other physiographical processes to the student and amateur geographer alike. The topography of the state is discussed in detail and, where necessary, related to its human geography; and the author has carefully explained and indexed all unfamiliar terms. The book is well supplied with maps, charts, and illustrations, and will be an excellent supplementary reader or guide in field trips for geography courses at all levels.

The Driftless Land, a collection of essays by Kevin Koch, is a search for the spirit of place among the bluffs, woodlands, and prairies of the Upper Mississippi River valley. The Midwest is commonly known for its flatlands, for oceans of corn pressing towards the horizon beneath a big sky. Lesser known are the steep hills and bluffs, the ravines and towering rock outcroppings where the upper Mississippi carves its meandering path. These rugged lands amid the prairies are known as The Driftless Area, a 20,000 square-mile region of northeast Iowa, northwest Illinois, southeast Minnesota, and southwest and central Wisconsin, bypassed by most of the glaciers. Koch observes, "You can 'love nature' and 'love the land'--but you won't know place until you've walked slowly and attentively through Lost Canyon or the Kickapoo Valley Reserve or Swiss Valley or Trempealeau Mountain, and then returned to learn what you can about them." Hidden within the woodlands are the imprints of human history and the deeper geological story as well, the story of a land untouched by the ancient onslaught of leveling glaciers. The result is a call to know place deeply, whatever place you inhabit.