Jennifer Watson Schumacher is an associate professor of German and Scandinavian literature at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. This book grew out of a course she taught at the university called German Milwaukee and was inspired by her German students who so enthusiastically embrace their own German heritage and the city of Milwaukee. Nineteen students collected the material for this book and put their hearts and souls into its creation.
Title: Purchase German Milwaukee (Images of America) Author: John
L. Hoh, Jr. Publisher: bookideas.com Date: 7/23/2011
Arcadia Publishing has issued a plethora of books relating to local
heritages. Wander on Arcadia's web site and you are greeted with a
map. Click on any area and the web site brings up the Arcadia
offerings related to that particular area. Some series deal with
the local sports legends. Some deal with the historical or
geological features of the local area.
This book is part of Arcadia's Images of America series and details
the Germans in Milwaukee.
Every city has enclaves of ethnic groups. Milwaukee is no
exception. French fur traders, Yankees, Poles, Irish, and others
helped shape the new and growing city by Lake Michigan. But by far
the Germans made the biggest splash in Milwaukee. The old
industries (and ancient headstones in Forest Home) bear German
names: Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, Harnishfeger, Pfister.
The German influence is also seen in the brewing industry that made
Milwaukee famous. The work ethic led to an industrial boom where
Milwaukee produced huge mining equipment, tractors, large scale
gears, and other items not seen produced elsewhere in the
world.
But beyond work is the leisure Germans brought to Milwaukee. Beer
was just the wetting of the whistle. The Germans brought their love
of a fest to Milwaukee and that is carried on in the City of
Festivals today.
Germans were also interested in education and physical fitness.
Schools and the Turner Society were formed to give German youth an
advantage in the New World. Milwaukee Germans hosted theater,
formed musical groups, and did painting. After the Civil War many
Germans painted dioramas and cycloramas, most depicting a Civil War
scene.
This book is an enlightening look at perhaps the ethnic group with
the most clout in perhaps the most German of cities in America.
Title: German Milwaukee: Book Review
Author: David Luhrssen
Publisher: Express Milwaukee
Date: 7/11/09 Milwaukee was once a German city-at least north of
Wisconsin Avenue. Traces of the past are apparent even today in the
older architecture and the long-noted preference of our citizens
for beer and bratwurst.
Many books have already been written on Milwaukee's German
heritage. The latest, German Milwaukee (from Arcadia Publishing)
adds no new insights but is an accessible, profusely illustrated
walk through the city's Teutonic past. As part of Arcadia's Images
of America series, whose catalog already includes several books on
our area, German Milwaukee follows the format of a short intro at
the start of each chapter followed by pages of carefully captioned
photographs. German Milwaukee is unusual for its academic origins.
UWM professor of German language, literature and culture, Jennifer
Watson Schumacher, edited the book from the research of her
students who wrote the text and hunted for photographs of
landmarks, families and famous figures. What's remarkable in paging
through the old pictures is how much Milwaukee has retained. City
Hall and Turner Hall, the Pabst Mansion and the Pabst Theater
survived the worst efforts of the city's dimmest leaders in the
'60s to tear down everything beautiful. The craft and pride of the
old German builders continues to anchor our cityscape. Jennifer
Watson Schumacher will sign copies of German Milwaukee at Boswell
Books
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