Book Reviews

  • Mike McCabe Blasts Both Parties

    Mike McCabe, Executive Director of Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

    “We have one party that is scary and another that is scared,” writes Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, in his new book.

  • Walker’s Book is Very Revealing

    Scott Walker Unintimidated

    There are fascinating sections, including Walker giving staff a top ten list ridiculing public workers.

  • The End of Suburbs?

    John Norquist

    So argues a new book. And former Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist agrees. Are they right?

  • Bike Czar

    Three Novels About Bicyclists

    Chain Reaction

    Cycling novels are on the rise. Three good reads I can recommend.

  • Book Review

    Historic Milwaukee Public Schoolhouses

    MKE Public Schoolhouses Feature

    An enjoyable journey through many of Milwaukee's most attractive public school buildings.

  • Taverns

    Why So Many Bars?

    A new book captures the unique social history behind Wisconsin's tavern culture.

  • Book Review

    The Option of Urbanism

    The Option of Urbanism by Christopher Leinberger

    More and more Americans are voting with their feet to live, work, and play in urban neighborhoods, but the government and big banks have been slow to respond to this change

  • Book Review

    The Seamless City

    The Seamless City by Rick Baker

    Mitt Romney's urban policy adviser delivers a surprisingly sane book on his time as a mayor of a major city.

  • Book Review

    The Big Roads

    The Big Roads, by Earl Swift, tells the story of America's highways. The book begins by exploring the era when a highway was merely a dirt road, and ends with a look at the lasting impact of the Interstate Highway System.

  • Book Review

    The Battle for Gotham

    Roberta Brandes Gratz, one of Planetizen's Top 100 Urban Thinkers, explores what makes New York City work in her book The Battle for Gotham New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs. With a title like you would assume the book dealt heavily with details of how Jacobs and Moses operated and their battles over urban renewal, but you would be wrong if you did.

  • Book Review

    The Agile City

    The Agile City by James S. Russell is an easy to read, pro-city book. Feeling much like a Richard Florida book at points, the author highlights examples of cities getting things right in regard to building wealth and dealing with the effects (and causes) of climate change. It is neither a book about green washing, nor is it filled with pie-in-the-sky "green" plans for how to remake the way we live. The book focuses on practical objectives to build wealth and well-being through cities.

  • Building an Aerotropolis in Milwaukee

    What would an aerotropolis bring to Milwaukee? What does Milwaukee need to do to get there? Better yet, what is an aerotropolis? I recently completed reading Aerotropolis: The Way We'll Live Next by Greg Lindsay and John Kasarda, and couldn't help but continually think about how the idea of an aerotropolis fits with Milwaukee.