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Summary: A book you'll read over and over again...
Review: A friend loaned me his copy of this book, and then selfishly wanted it back 2 years later... Does anyone know where I can get a copy of this fascinating book? If you do know, and haven't read it, please, don't read it! You, too, will want to keep it for yourself! (Please be sure to use the book's title in your email subject) THANK YOU!
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Summary: The Good Old Days
Review: Ah, the Good Old Days! that time when the men and women were wrapped like a warm blanket in Christian piety. When boys and girls grew up straight and tall, amid swimming holes and Sunday schools, and read aloud in the public schools from the Protestant Bible. When men bore the guns that kept us free on their broad shoulders, and women were demure, graceful, with chaste and untroubled souls. This remarkable collection of photographs --- many depicting funerals and similarly mournful scenes --- and the accompanying anthology of ephemeral journalism will go a long way towards showing that this, like any other lost Eden, never really existed. These people had other virtues, of course: they lived in the presence of death; they cultivated a sort of stoicism in the face of hard lives made harder by the rise of national capitalism. It seems that people in rural Wisconsin were heirs to the same failures that all flesh is heir to. People committed adultery back then, and bore children out of wedlock. People went mad back then, and often expressed their madness in violence. There was drunkenness, grinding loneliness, indifference to neighbours, and murder. They coped with problems, too, that we have managed to conquer: most notably, epidemic disease, and wholly inadequte health care. It is good to remember this when this period is portrayed as a golden age of piety and patriotism.
Rating:
Summary: The Good Old Days
Review: Ah, the Good Old Days! that time when the men and women were wrapped like a warm blanket in Christian piety. When boys and girls grew up straight and tall, amid swimming holes and Sunday schools, and read aloud in the public schools from the Protestant Bible. When men bore the guns that kept us free on their broad shoulders, and women were demure, graceful, with chaste and untroubled souls. This remarkable collection of photographs --- many depicting funerals and similarly mournful scenes --- and the accompanying anthology of ephemeral journalism will go a long way towards showing that this, like any other lost Eden, never really existed. These people had other virtues, of course: they lived in the presence of death; they cultivated a sort of stoicism in the face of hard lives made harder by the rise of national capitalism. It seems that people in rural Wisconsin were heirs to the same failures that all flesh is heir to. People committed adultery back then, and bore children out of wedlock. People went mad back then, and often expressed their madness in violence. There was drunkenness, grinding loneliness, indifference to neighbours, and murder. They coped with problems, too, that we have managed to conquer: most notably, epidemic disease, and wholly inadequte health care. It is good to remember this when this period is portrayed as a golden age of piety and patriotism.
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Summary: We need this book back in print now more than ever
Review: As I look at what has happened in Littleton,I can't belive we can understand it if we don't understand that we did not invent violence, or pain, or alienation in the 1990's. Americans are notable lacking in historical perspective;that why we need this book.
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Summary: Taking a look at an era not unlike our own
Review: At the end of the nineteenth century and up through World War II, sociologists debated human behavior and intelligence. Are people born predisposed to genius or moronity? Are they born with a genetic ability to be or become wealthy and others are born to be poor? Can one's environment affect one's intelligence and one's station in life, or is it a genetic quality? Leading advocates of both positions certainly used a great deal of research to prove one point or another. Ironically, a leading advocate of the environmental influences of behavior eventually went into advertising, the greatest proof of environmental influences on individuals. And, in another bit of irony, Adolf Hitler influenced his audiences with propaganda to lead them to believe race and genetics determined who and what people were! Michael Lesy's scholarly work (it was originally a thesis for his degree) takes a practical look at this debate. In fact, Mr. Lesy addresses that debate in his conclusion, as he relates the debates raging in ivory towers, his book in the main related the reality of the world in the heartland. These men in academia might not have known of the individuals who are named in the news reports, but their debate sought to answer those question that arose from these actions. In reading these accounts, we realize that the only difference between "the good ol' days" and today is likely the speed of communications. Many of these articles were already several days, if not weeks, old when they printed; today they would be splashed on the front pages and people would debate what is happening to our society that it is eroding so. Attempts on others lives were frequent. Mental illness prevalent. The photographs also tell a story. Infant mortality. Newlyweds looking to a bright future. Vibrant businesses. Artistic photographs that seek to illuminate certain features of a photo. These glass plate photos were what originally inspired Mr. Lesy to do this project. Amazingly, these accounts are not from the large metropolitan areas, but from the rural areas of Wisconsin. At this same period, Wisconsin was the leader in Progressivism with Robert "Fighting Bob" LaFollette leading the state to lead the nation in enacting reforms such as Social Security, Worker's Compensation, and the minimum wage. So while the environment improved, the sad state of human affairs remained similar to the nation at large. This book also proves to be a conversation piece. After reading it, I started bringing it to family gatherings. My grandmother remembered similar stories from her youth. My mother read similar accounts as she did geneology. Others were amazed that news reports then are eerily similar to news reports today. Obviously, the human condition remains bizarely similar. The "good ol' days" it would appear weren't so good.
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Summary: This Book Inspired "A Prayer for the Dying"
Review: I am happy that a new edition of this book will be out in April. The recently published novel by Stuart O'Nan, "A Prayer for the Dying," was inspired by "Wisconsin Death Trip." Fans of the latter will absolutely have to check out O'Nan's haunting novel, based in Friendship, Wisconsin shortly after the Civil War. "Prayer" is available at Amazon.com, and getting all sorts of rave reviews. Check it out!
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Summary: I FOUND IT!
Review: I found the book at my local library today and I can't wait to start reading it! It has a lot of neat pictures in it that I've seen so far. I hope this book is as neat as it sounds!
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Summary: BRING THIS BACK IN PRINT!
Review: I know so many people who are interested in purchasing this classic book, but cannot since the publisher has let it go out of stock. It's a shame since it is a truly unique, haunting and powerful work. When Susan Sontag wrote about needing "an erotics of art," this is it. Surpasses even her collection of essays On Photography. Indispensible. If you can find it.
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Summary: Wisconsin Death Trip is a masterpiece
Review: I live in Jackson County, WI, and I find it strange that something as bizarre and twisted as this could actually happen in a town as small as BRF. The book was really interesting, and I know some of the people who are in the film Wisconsin Death Trip, which will be on Cinemax July 4. The book chronicles the deaths and strange occurances of Jackson country through newspaper articles and pictures.
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Summary: So long to 'the good old days'
Review: I purchased this book about a year ago when it was first republished. After reading it, I was amazed that it was ever out of print in the first place. Lesy uses a unique technique to depict what life was really like in the latter part of the 19th century. Was Lesy too focused on finding the negative aspects of life in the local paper? Perhaps, but Lesy was trying to make a point here and he succeded admirably. It is difficult to comprehend today the hardship, dullness and claustrophobia of country life back then. It is small wonder why so many fled to the cities. I hesitate to rate anything five stars but for anyone interested in what life was really like in 'the good old days' this book is indispensible.
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