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.

A supplemental textbook for middle and high school students, Hoosiers and the American Story provides intimate views of individuals and places in Indiana set within themes from American history. During the frontier days when Americans battled with and exiled native peoples from the East, Indiana was on the leading edge of America’s westward expansion. As waves of immigrants swept across the Appalachians and eastern waterways, Indiana became established as both a crossroads and as a vital part of Middle America. Indiana’s stories illuminate the history of American agriculture, wars, industrialization, ethnic conflicts, technological improvements, political battles, transportation networks, economic shifts, social welfare initiatives, and more. In so doing, they elucidate large national issues so that students can relate personally to the ideas and events that comprise American history. At the same time, the stories shed light on what it means to be a Hoosier, today and in the past.

Fighting Hoosiers: Indiana in Two World Wars tells the compelling, heartbreaking, and breathtaking stories of some of the hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers who served their country during the First and Second World Wars. Drawn from the rich holdings of the Indiana Magazine of History, a journal of state and midwestern history published since 1905, the collection includes original diaries, letters and memoirs, as well as research essays—all of them focused on Hoosiers in the two world wars. Readers will meet Alex Arch, a Hungarian-born immigrant who was the first American to fire a shot in World War I; Maude Essig, a nurse serving with the American Red Cross in wartime France; Kenneth Baker, a soldier in the Army Signal Corps, who crawled across French fields (sometimes over and around dead bodies) to lay phone lines for military communications; and Bernard Rice, a combat medic who witnessed the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp in 1945. Indiana's brave men and women like these have served with distinction in the armed forces since the earliest days of the Indiana Territory. Fighting Hoosiers offers a compelling glimpse at some of their remarkable stories.

In Indiana through Tradition and Change: A History of the Hoosier State and Its People, 1920–1945 (vol. 5, History of Indiana Series), author James H. Madison covers Indiana during the period between World War I and World War II. Madison follows the generally topical organization set by previous volumes in the series, with initial chapters devoted to politics and later chapters to social, economic, and cultural questions. The last chapter provides an overview of the home front during World War II. Each chapter is intended to stand alone, but a fuller understanding of subjects and themes treated in any one chapter will result from a reading of the whole book. The book includes a bibliography, notes, and index.

Part of the Indiana Historical Society's commemoration of the nineteenth state's bicentennial, Indiana's 200: The People Who Shaped the Hoosier State recognizes the people who made enduring contributions to Indiana in its 200-year history. Written by historians, scholars, biographers, and independent researchers, the biographical essays in this book will enhance the public's knowledge and appreciation of those who made a difference in the lives of Hoosiers, the country, and even the world. Subjects profiled in the book include individuals from all fields of endeavor: law, politics, art, music, entertainment, literature, sports, education, business/industry, religion, science/invention/technology, as well as "the notorious."

This is a splendid example of how to write well balanced, highly readable state history. --The Old Northwest "Madison has succeeded as have few other authors of state histories in blending modern scholarly concerns with the traditional narrative historiography of his state. This book is in many ways a model state history." --Choice "Neither too detailed and provincial, nor too broad and comparative, The Indiana Way adopts an integrated analytical approach, but also includes some narrative and biography." --Journal of American History