The Wisconsin Frontier [Paperback]

From 17th-century French coureurs de bois to lumberjacks of the 19th century, Wisconsins frontier era saw thousands arriving from Europe and other areas seeking wealth and opportunity. Indians mixed with these newcomers, sometimes helping and sometimes challenging them, often benefiting from their guns and other trade items. This captivating history reveals the conflicts, the defeats, the victories, and the way the future looked to Wisconsins peoples at the beginning of the 20th century.

A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this thoroughly accessible history, highly recommended especially for Wisconsin history shelves and public library collections. April 2011Oustanding Achievement, Wisconsin Library Association

Mark Wyman is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Illinois State University. He is author of several books, including Round-Trip to America: The Immigrants Return to Europe, 18801930 and Hoboes: Bindlestiffs, Fruit Tramps, and the Harvesting of the West.

Dedication
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter I The French Open a Frontier
Chapter II Before the Europeans
Chapter III Frenchmen and Indians
Chapter IV An Arena for International Competition
Chapter V Struggle Over the Upper Lakes
Chapter VI Miners, Indian Wars, and a Frontier Transformed
Chapter VII Rush to the Land
Chapter VIII An Ethnic and Religious Jumble
Chapter IX Restricting the Indian Domain
Chapter X Logging the Pineries
Chapter XI Legacies
Essay on Sources
Index

A superb history.An informative and readable overview. . . . [Wyman's] integration of Indian history into the work is well done and commendable.A highly readable, balanced account of the area that became the state of Wisconsin in 1848 . . . [Wyman] elevates his narrative from a limited state history to a fascinating story of the gains and perils, ebbs and flows that characterize the American frontier slc