Diana Cook recounts some of the rich history and little-known facts about the magnificent Wisconsin State Capitol building, in a volume of interest and value to every Wisconsin resident and to all who tour this building and marvel at its sheer grandeur. With this book in a visitor's hand, the Capitol will make sense and be fun to discover. -- Wisconsin State Journal

On the occasion of the Capitol’s centennial in 2017, this book tells the remarkable story of the building—in all its incarnations—and the people who made history beneath its dome. The book covers the creation of the territorial capitol in 1837, the construction of the second capitol in the 1860s (and the fire that almost completely destroyed it in 1904), the eleven-year construction project that completed the third capitol in 1917, and the extensive conservation project of the 1990s that restored the building to its grandeur. Supporting the framework of this architectural history are colorful stories about the people who shaped Wisconsin from within the Capitol—attorneys, senators, and governors (from Henry Dodge to Scott Walker), as well as protesters, reformers, secretaries, tour guides, custodians, and even Old Abe, the Capitol’s resident eagle. Combining historical photographs with modern, full-color architectural photos, The Wisconsin Capitol provides fascinating details about the building, while also emphasizing the importance of the Capitol in Wisconsin’s storied history.

In early 2011, the nation was stunned to watch Wisconsin's state capitol in Madison come under sudden and unexpected occupation by union members and their allies. The protests to defend collective bargaining rights were militant and practically unheard of in this era of declining union power. Nearly forty years of neoliberalism and the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression have battered the labor movement, and workers have been largely complacent in the face of stagnant wages, slashed benefits and services, widening unemployment, and growing inequality. That is, until now.

In 2011, recently elected Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker introduced his version of "dropping a bomb" with the Budget Repair Bill. A View from the Interior covers the thirty tense days following his announcement that would put an end to public unions in Wisconsin. One and a half million people descended upon the Capitol building in Madison, jamming its hallways and flooding its grounds to protest. Author Susan Riseling, Chief of University of Wisconsin-Madison Police, offers this compelling insider's perspective of those protests, based on hundreds of pages of actual police reports and other documents from those history-making days.