The Driftless Reader

by Curt D. Meine (Editor), Keefe Keeley (Editor)

Home to the little house in the big woods, the prairie school, and the organic valley.

Ancient glaciers passed by the Driftless Area and waterways vein its interior, forming an enchanting, enigmatic landscape of sharp ridgetops and deep valleys. Across time, this rugged topography has been home to an astonishing variety of people: Sauk, Dakota, and Ho-Chunk villagers, Norwegian farmers and Mexican mercado owners, Dominican nuns and Buddhist monks, river raftsmen and Shakespearean actors, Cornish miners and African American barn builders, organic entrepreneurs and Hmong truck gardeners.

The Driftless Reader gathers writings that highlight the unique natural and cultural history, landscape, and literature of this region that encompasses southwestern Wisconsin and adjacent Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. The more than eighty selected texts include writings by Black Hawk, Mark Twain, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Frank Lloyd Wright, Aldo Leopold, David Rhodes, and many other Native people, explorers, scientists, historians, farmers, songwriters, journalists, and poets. Paintings, photographs, maps, and other images complement the texts, providing a deeper appreciation of this region's layered natural and human history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Science, Essays, Nature, Geography, Natural History

388 pages, Hardcover

Published September 26, 2017

About the author

Curt Meine, Ph.D., is a conservation biologist, historian, and writer. During his conservation career over the last twenty years, Meine has worked on projects involving topics ranging from biodiversity conservation planning, sustainable agriculture, and international development, to crane and wetland conservation, prairie restoration, and development of community-based conservation programs. He has worked in Europe, Asia, and across North America, in partnership with organizations including the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Conservation Union, the World Wildlife Fund, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. He has served on the Board of Governors of the Society of Conservation Biology and on the editorial boards of the journals Conservation Biology and Environmental Ethics.

Meine has edited and authored several books. His biography Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work, published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1988, was the first full-length biography of Leopold (taken & abridged from www.humansandnature.org)

Reviews

[Therese · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful collection of stories and essays about the most beautiful area of Wisconsin. Worth savoring over several months.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite book. I'm a Rooted Wanderer and while I am currently rooted here in the Driftless, I have plans to wander elsewhere in the future. I love my little bit of Land and often worry about what will happen to it when I'm gone. Will the next person treasure it as I do? Will they know where the Bluebirds like to nest? Will they know the frogs & toads by their song? Will they know where to look for the sneaky Green Heron? But this book made me flip that script. Did those who came before think about who would walk it next? With concern? With apathy? With expectation? At some point someone treasured it, be them two legged or four legged (or three legged, because I know Stumpy the rabbit liked it here for quite some time). I would like to think that I am honoring them through my love of This Place.

[Dave DeWitte · Rating 5 out of 5]

This eclectic collection of readings provides deep insights into the history of human interactions and economic and environmental impact on the driftless region. It is a good book to set down and pick back up, savoring each entry. I am grateful to Mr. Meine for curating this nice collection and presenting it attractively, because the driftless has a special place in my own experience. Cycling, trail running, backpacking and day tripping in the driftless have provided me with some magical (and also dreadful) moments. This is a rare and unique geographical oddity, and for someone who grew up in the flatlands of Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, somewhat magical.

[DeForest Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Members rated from 4-5 stars.

They really enjoyed this collection. It was agreed the book made you want to explore the driftless area yourself to see the different locations that were described.

Members appreciated the break in dense/educational reading with poetry, art, and fiction pieces. And the mixture of historic and recent voices.

The collection educates and entertains.

The group did agree that they wished for readable/relevant maps as they read. The members reduced .5-.25 stars due to the lack of such maps.

[Carol Dvorak · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a life-long resident of the Driftless Area, I thought I knew a lot about the area, but I learned how little I really knew. This is a collection of stories and memories and research by historians, geologists, naturalists, and others who knew this land. These stories were personal as well as environmental, about the water, the land, the wildlife and the people who lived and worked in the area, and the changes over the years. I enjoyed it more than I expected.

[Dave Hoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories of people living in the part of Wisconsin called The driftless area. A study of land formations, bluffs, rivers and flat land. And the people who settled there.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad I could learn more about my home. A must if you are from the area.

[Daniel Hamingson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great! Many essays on the Driftless area of WI. IA., Mn., and Il. History. poetry, geology& philosophy . Well put together.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is good for skimming through to find your areas of interest with the unique driftless area. This book became a stepping stone to other curiosities surrounding the driftlessregion.

[Mike Mcquestion · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pleasing survey of historical and contemporary writers from and about Wisconsin's Driftless Region.

[Marcia Arndt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned so much history and geography about the region where I grew up. Appreciate it so much more!

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous introduction to the history and spirit of the Driftless region past and present. Also a great launching point to other works about the Driftless.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was surprised to learn that Laura Ignalls Wilder lived in the region and authored all of here books here.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful sampler of writings from the special are of southwest Wisconsin that I call home.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

My parents moved to northeast Iowa a few years ago. My first time visiting, I was struck by how hilly the area was. Coming from flat northwest Ohio, I was expecting much of the same. I was instantly charmed by the area and its history. It was while visiting the Driftless Center in Iowa where I first heard the term, Driftless Region. I am a huge history buff, and one of my favorite things to do while travelling is pick up local history books. I snagged this one over Thanksgiving when I went to Iowa for a visit. What a beautiful collection about this unique and special part of the country.

[Andrew Bien · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the perfect format to connect me to a place through literature. It balances history, poetry, science, visual art, and more, in digestible fragments. I wish all places, all things had books like this. It suits my learning style. A Black Hills edition would have enriched my time in South Dakota. An Eau Claire edition should have been required reading. The Driftless area already feels more tangible.

[Bruce Moffat · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who want to learn more about the unique natural and cultural features of SW Wisconsin, known as the Driftless Region, this is an ideal compendium. It takes the reader though the geologic origins of the region - which includes parts of SE Minnesota, NE Iowa, and NW Illinois - especially how this area was spared the planing out of the landscape by glaciers, and how it was shaped rather by erosion. It then walks you through the indigenous history, the period of early European explorers, the actual settlement of the area (and accompanying forcible relocation of native people), and on into the early economies of the region and the building out of Euro-American society. I particularly like the mix of source material: travel journals, correspondence, scientific papers, memiors, poetry, and artwork. Taken together, this collection creates a rich and nuanced of an unusual landscape, past, present, and even future. Well worth the read!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

SW Wisconsin. Nonfiction

[Becky]

Quite varied collection of writings on the driftless region, viewed through multiple lenses.