The Making of Milwaukee is generally acknowledged as the standard history of Wisconsin’s largest city. Well-written, superbly organized, and lavishly illustrated, it tells the story of a Midwest metropolis that has been, at various times, the largest shipper of wheat on earth, America’s most “foreign” city, the nation’s beer capital, “The Machine Shop of the World,” and the epicenter of municipal Socialism. Renowned historian John Gurda chronicles the development of a human-scale metropolis, a community whose past has produced one of the most livable big cities in America and, at the same time, created some daunting social and economic problems. This fourth edition of the book features a thoroughly updated text and an all-new chapter that brings Milwaukee’s story up to the present day.

The Making of Milwaukee

Arts & Photography

Gurda, John

Photography & Video

Milwaukee County Historical Society

Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods is the most comprehensive account of grassroots Milwaukee ever published. Based on the popular series of posters published by the City of Milwaukee in the 1980s, the book features both historical chronicles and contemporary portraits of 37 neighborhoods that emerged before World War II, an ensemble that defines the city of Milwaukee. Richly illustrated, engagingly written and organized for maximum ease of use, the book is a fine-grained introduction to the community.

Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods

History

Americas

Historic Milwaukee

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.

Cream City Chronicles: Stories of Milwaukee's Past

Wisconsin Historical Society Press

Cream City Chronicles: Stories of Milwaukee’s Past

Paddle through the watery history of the Midwest’s Cream City. The success and survival of Milwaukee lies in the rivers that meander through its streets and the great lake at its shore. The area’s earliest inhabitants recognized the value of an abundant, clean water supply for food and transportation. Settlers, shipbuilders, and city leaders used the same waters to travel greater distances, power million-dollar industries, and even have a bit of fun. In Milwaukee: A City Built on Water, celebrated historian John Gurda expands on his popular Milwaukee Public Television documentary, relating the mucky history of the waters that gave Milwaukee life—and occasionally threatened the city through erosion, invasive species, and water-borne diseases. Telling tales of brewers, brickmakers, ecologists, and engineers, Gurda explores the city’s complicated connection with its most precious resource and greatest challenge. You’ll meet the generations of people, from a Potawatomi chief to fur traders and fishermen, who settled on the small spit of land known as Jones Island; learn how Milwaukee’s unique water composition creates its distinct cream-colored bricks; visit Wisconsin’s first waterparks; and see how city leaders transformed the Milwaukee River—once described as a “vast sewer” with an “odorous tide”—into today’s lively and lovely Riverwalk.

Milwaukee: A City Built on Water

John Gurda’s South Side Milwaukee family loved potluck dinners. “From the Jell-O salads at the start of the line through the hot dishes in the middle and on to the pumpkin bars at the end, the food was always hearty, abundant, and certifiably homemade,” he writes. Drawing from Gurda’s long-running Sunday Milwaukee Journal Sentinel column, Brewtown Tales was prepared in the spirit of those fondly remembered meals. The main dish is Milwaukee history, served in a multitude of ways. You will find in these pages the biography of a bridge, a requiem for a union, tales of two shipwrecks, a frank take on segregation, and memories of the summer of ’68, among many other things. There are also side dishes that convey the distinctive flavors of Wisconsin and a few more exotic places, from Vilas County to Vietnam. Brewtown Tales will satisfy your hunger, introduce you to new and unexpected tastes, and whet your appetite for more homemade history.

Brewtown Tales: More Stories from Milwaukee and Beyond

Biographies & Memoirs

Historical

"The Making of Milwaukee" is the first comprehensive history of Milwaukee County to be published in nearly twenty years. Gurda's book traces the evolution of Wisconsin's largest city from its origins as a Native American settlement to the present day. John Gurda is well-known for his numerous publications on the history of the city, including a monthly column in "The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel."

Univ of Wisconsin Pr

Great telling history of a large insurance company in the US

The Quiet Company: A Modern History of Northwestern Mutual Life

Business & Money

Economics

Northwestern Mutual Life

The Policy Owners Company: The History of Northwestern Mutual 1857-2007

A well written book about the energy company, Wisconsin Electric. Filled with vast knowledge of the company and how it has become the leader in powering electricity to the people of Wisconsin.

Path of a pioneer: A centennial history of the Wisconsin Electric Power Company

Wisconsin Energy Corp

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gurda, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gurda, John

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gurda, John. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Making of Milwaukee

Milwaukee: City of Neighborhoods

Cream City Chronicles: Stories of Milwaukee's Past

Cream City Chronicles: Stories of Milwaukee’s Past

Milwaukee: A City Built on Water

Brewtown Tales: More Stories from Milwaukee and Beyond

The Making of Milwaukee

The Quiet Company: A Modern History of Northwestern Mutual Life

The Policy Owners Company: The History of Northwestern Mutual 1857-2007

Path of a pioneer: A centennial history of the Wisconsin Electric Power Company