Books
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Dennis Drenner
Complicated
Jeannie Vanasco’s memoir, “Things We Didn’t Talk About When I Was a Girl” is complicated, heartwarming and heart-wrenching. In it, she confronts the friend who raped her 14 years prior. Read more
Tim Samuelson
Let it all hang out
The architect Frank Lloyd Wright lived an unconventional life. And Paul Hendrickson’s new biography, “Plagued by Fire,” takes an unconventional approach, reading like a thriller. Read more
Oct 17, 2019
The most literary time of year
From a gay Olympian to a witch’s memoir, this year’s Wisconsin Book Festival features a diverse roster of authors, including many hometown — and home state — standouts. Read more
Oct 10, 2019
Making due
“Canteen Cuisine” is an innovative cookbook created by inmates and advocates that provides recipes and stories that highlight the difficulties of eating and cooking in prison. Read more
Oct 10, 2019
The rivers around us
On a months-long journey in motorized canoes John Hildebrand, one of Wisconsin’s finest nature writers, seeks to explore Wisconsin and understand its divided people. Read more
Oct 10, 2019
Troubled history
Marie Arana, who visits the Central Library for the 2019 Wisconsin Book Festival, takes a personal approach to examining the history of Latin America in “Silver, Sword & Stone.” Read more
Oct 10, 2019
Radical priest
“Ojibwe, Activist, Priest: The Life of Philip Bergin Gordon, Tibishkogijik” is a scholarly book that presents a dry account of a remarkable life. Read more
Oct 3, 2019
Poetry from hardship
The Wisconsin Historical Society Press releases “Rebel Poet: More Stories from a 21st Century Indian,” a second volume from the brilliant Louis V. Clark III (Two Shoes), a poet from the Oneida Nation. Read more
Sep 26, 2019
5:00 AM
Mark Hertzberg
Making cottages great again
Back before the scandals and the fame, Frank Lloyd Wright designed “cottages” on Delavan Lake. A new book looks at the legacy of Penwern, a whimsical example of the architect’s early work. Read more
Aug 8, 2019
5:00 AM
Ya-Ling Tsai
A brutal read
Addiction, sex trafficking and murder are all themes in John Galligan’s absorbing yet brutal new novel, “Bad Axe County.” Read more
Jul 11, 2019
5:00 AM
Lunar literature
“The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon: The True Story of Alan Bean” is a picture book by former Isthmus editor Dean Robbins, who got a chance to collaborate with one of his childhood heroes. Read more
Jul 11, 2019
5:00 AM
Wretch control
Dean Strang, the attorney who became a star after Netflix released “Making a Murderer,” has a new book out with UW Press. He looks at the history of how the government crushed the Industrial Workers of the World. Read more
Jun 13, 2019
5:01 AM
Carolyn Fath Ashby
Unitarian history
Prairie Unitarian Universalist Society celebrates a golden anniversary with a 996-page history. Read more
Jun 13, 2019
5:00 AM
