The Wisconsin: River of a Thousand Isles

Rivers of America #18

by August Derleth

A classic account of the Wisconsin River's early exploration by French traders and Jesuit priests through the 1940s. Mixing folklore and legend, Derleth tells of the Winnebago, Sauk, and Fox peoples; of lumberjacks, farmers, miners, and preachers; of ordinary folks and famous figures such as the Ringling Brothers, Chief Blackhawk, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Zona Gale.

Genres: History

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and the Cosmic Horror genre, as well as his founding of the publisher Arkham House (which did much to bring supernatural fiction into print in hardcover in the US that had only been readily available in the UK), Derleth was a leading American regional writer of his day, as well as prolific in several other genres, including historical fiction, poetry, detective fiction, science fiction, and biography

A 1938 Guggenheim Fellow, Derleth considered his most serious work to be the ambitious Sac Prairie Saga, a series of fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and non-fiction naturalist works designed to memorialize life in the Wisconsin he knew. Derleth can also be considered a pioneering naturalist and conservationist in his writing

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augus...]

Reviews

[Martin Gibbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

August Derleth was a contemporary of HP Lovecraft, and while he wrote a hundred or so books, and countless stories in pulp magazines, his home was Wisconsin. And he loved and wrote most passionately about his home state (and mine). This book is amazingly well written and fully researched; Derleth blends folklore and history so expertly that you really get a sense of being there.

I was not raised in the Wisconsin River region, rather in the western part of the state. Still, Derleth’s descriptions and anecdotes are so vivid that I can smell the murky and musty water along the river’s banks. One can hear the lumbermen barking out commands as they ride a flotilla of logs down a wild current, and the cry of the whippoorwills at night.

His detail of the senseless and ongoing feud between Sauk City and Prairie du Sac was a real treasure to read. And it is only one of several stories that will keep you reading this treasure of a book. Whether you are from Wisconsin or not, this book is one that I would definitely recommend to a history buff; Derleth’s style is accessible and flows from page to page with ease.

It does have a very regional focus and so it gets 4 stars instead of 5, but to me it really is 5.


Additional Info: On my version on page 235:

“’for a period of two years .... until my fight was finally successful, Wisconsin was a corrupted stated, governed not by the people but by a group of private and corporate interests.’” This was the late 1800s... a very telling statement...

[Zoann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Spencer & Jacque Merryfield, I am more educated about the history of Wisconsin, and history is one of my favorite topics. The author was very prescient about the harmful effects of industry on nature and, perhaps, ahead of his time in his attitudes towards Native Americans. Some poetry and song lyrics are thrown in for good measure.

[Monette Bebow-Reinhard · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot here to like, and he has a voice you can trust to relate the history correctly. Like any nonfiction book, however, you will find yourself skimming some sections and paying more attention to others. You don't get environmental history of this river, though, and I was kind of hoping for some of that. This might be just a little too early for that kind of history.

[Tyler Howe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad.