"Milwaukee's story is unique in that its struggle for integration and quality education has been so closely tied to [school] choice." --from the Introduction "Educating Milwaukee: How One City's History of Segregation and Struggle Shaped Its Schools" traces the origins of the modern school choice movement, which is growing in strength throughout the United States. Author James K. Nelsen follows Milwaukee's tumultuous education history through three eras--"no choice," "forced choice," and "school choice." Nelsen details the whole story of Milwaukee's choice movement through to modern times when Milwaukee families have more schooling options than ever--charter schools, open enrollment, state-funded vouchers, neighborhood schools--and yet Milwaukee's impoverished African American students still struggle to succeed and stay in school. "Educating Milwaukee" chronicles how competing visions of equity and excellence have played out in one city's schools in the modern era, offering both a cautionary tale and a "choice" example.

"The Making of Milwaukee chronicles the history of a hometown 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. John Gurda's book is the first full-length history of Milwaukee to appear since 1948."--BOOK JACKET.

"Milwaukee - not New York, Chicago or Los Angeleswas the scene of a number of television firsts: The Journal Company filed the very first application for a commercial TV license with the FCC in 1938. The first female program director and news director in a major market were both at Milwaukee stations. The city was a major battleground in the VHF vs. UHF war that began in the 1950s. The battle to put an educational TV station on the air was fought at the national, state and local levels by the Milwaukee Vocational School. WMVS-TV was the first educational TV station to run a regular schedule of colorcasts, and WMVT was the site of the first long-distance rest of a digital over-theair signal." "This detailed story of the rich history of the city's television stations since 1930 is told through facts, anecdotes, and quotations from the on-air talent, engineers, and managers who conceived, constructed, and put the stations on the air. Included are discussions of the many locally-produced shows - often done live - that once made up a large part of a station's broadcast day. Through these stories - some told here for the first time - and the book's extensive photographic images, the history of Milwaukee television comes alive again for the reader." "From the first early tests using mechanical scanning methods in the 1930s, through the first successful digital television tests, the politics, conflicts, triumphs, and failures of Milwaukee's television stations are described in fascinating detail." --Book Jacket.

A tribute to Milwaukee's German heritage, this book reflects on the cultural influence of Germans on the city and features traditional German recipes from local restaurants and family kitchens.

Milwaukee loves the Oak Leaf Trail, a 125-mile escape to nature connecting the major Milwaukee County parks. But many have not heard the history behind the trail. Believing parks to be the "lungs of the people," long-range thinkers like Charles Whitnall advocated for the verdant spaces the trail would later snake through. To promote biking as an alternative to precious gasoline during wartime, Harold "Zip" Morgan designed a route that 1960s riders built on. Years later, bicycling enthusiasts worked overtime with local leadership to get a 76-mile route ready for the country's bicentennial, creating the beloved 76 Bike Trail. The Oak Leaf story continues today as local volunteers and politicians advocate for extensions, repairs and other improvements. Join local author Jill Rothenbueler Maher as she uncovers the previously untold stories of a Milwaukee County treasure.

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.

The Milwaukee Police Department was organized in 1855 with a determined chief, seven pugnacious officers, and little money. The department grew to 21 men by the start of the Civil War in 1861. Law enforcement in the city soon earned the national reputation for honesty, integrity, and fairness it has enjoyed into the 21st century. The Milwaukee Police Department was first in the country to establish a formal officer training school, police bomb disposal vehicle, and "talking squad car." Nefarious criminals handled by the department include the foiled presidential assassin John Schrank, the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, and characters with quaint nicknames like "Cat-eye Lil" and "Kelly the Choker."

From City Hall to the Pabst Theater, reminders of the past are part of the fabric of Milwaukee. Yet many historic treasures have been lost to time. An overgrown stretch of the Milwaukee River was once a famous beer garden. Blocks of homes and apartments replaced the Wonderland Amusement Park. A quiet bike path now stretches where some of fastest trains in the world previously thundered. Today's Estabrook Park was a vast mining operation, and Marquette University covers the old fairgrounds where Abraham Lincoln spoke. Author Carl Swanson recounts these stories and other tales of bygone days.

In One People, Many Paths, Gurda excels at the complicated task of writing a fair-minded narrative about a community united in diversity. Milwaukee's first Jews were mostly enterprising businessmen who came with the great German immigration after 1848. The community changed with the arrival of Jews from Eastern Europe with distinctly different customs. Gurda discusses religion and secularism, socialism and Zionism and the various movements with Judaism in the overall context of Milwaukee history and the situation of Jews worldwide. One People, Many Paths also shows how the entrepreneurial, intellectual and cultural contributions by the city's Jewish residents over the past have made Milwaukee a richer place. - by David Luhrssen for ExpressMilwaukee.com.