Nature’s School is both the intriguing story of the rise and fall of a town because of the influence of the Wabash River and a broader observation of the significant role of water in the chronicle of American history. Peru, Indiana is usually defined by the rich circus heritage in its past, but the most significant history of the town lies in the relationship it has with the Wabash River, a story that has largely been forgotten. Nature’s School is a narrative that includes Native Americans, land speculation, the Wabash & Erie Canal, railroads, and changes in the Wabash River, weaving an absorbing tale about the settling of Peru, its destruction during the 1913 flood, and the consequences of misreading the role of humans within the natural landscape.

Hanna's Tow is the history of nineteenth-century Wabash, Indiana, where the author was raised and where his father was a minister for 30 years. In late autumn 1902 a macabre scene unfolded at the original burial ground of Wabash, which was called both Old Cemetery and Hanna's Cemetery. The task at hand was the disinterment of four bodies. The newest of the four graves held whatever might be left of the corpse of Colonel Hugh Hanna - the founding father and civic icon of the prosperous and picturesque community. It might be argued that Hanna's disinterment was the high-water mark of an outpouring of visible progress, cultural energy, and palpable optimism that the town had experienced during the proceeding 67 years. Hanna's Town talks about the high and low points of this fasinating community.

The story of this Midwestern state and its people, past and present: “An entertaining and fast read.” ―Indianapolis Star Who are the people called Hoosiers? What are their stories? Two centuries ago, on the Indiana frontier, they were settlers who created a way of life they passed to later generations. They came to value individual freedom and distrusted government, even as they demanded that government remove Indians, sell them land, and bring democracy. Down to the present, Hoosiers have remained wary of government power and have taken care to guard their tax dollars and their personal independence. Yet the people of Indiana have always accommodated change, exchanging log cabins and spinning wheels for railroads, cities, and factories in the nineteenth century, automobiles, suburbs, and foreign investment in the twentieth. The present has brought new issues and challenges, as Indiana’s citizens respond to a rapidly changing world. James H. Madison’s sparkling new history tells the stories of these Hoosiers, offering an invigorating view of one of America’s distinctive states and the long and fascinating journey of its people.