Perhaps you overlooked a gift for your favorite aunt or uncle. Or maybe the mid-week timing of the holidays has granted you more time to kick back and enjoy the season. Whatever your reason, I can recommend four books bound together by Wisconsin history — and, in one case, a touch of sadness.
Wisconsin gerrymandering: The fight for permanent maps and why it matters (Little Creek Press)
Here’s where the melancholy enters. Authored by the late state Sen. Tim Cullen, who died just before Christmas, the book examines why major political parties feel compelled to redraw legislative maps when the once-a-decade opportunity arises — and how there’s an alternative approach just next door.
Janesville native Cullen had something rare in today’s politics, which was a reputation for being bipartisan. He was a Democrat and majority leader in the state Senate for five years, but also served a stint as Republican Tommy Thompson’s health and social services secretary before spending about 20 years in private business.
His book argues that gerrymandering, the act of manipulating political boundaries for electoral advantage, is nearly as old as the republic itself but a distortion of representative democracy. “The reality is that gerrymandering is the abuse of power. Whichever political party has total control in a state can’t help themselves,” Cullen wrote.
Citing Wisconsin’s 2011 remap and efforts to return to fairer maps, Cullen argued Wisconsin should turn the decennial process over to a nonpartisan commission. That would be much like the system in Iowa. Even his own party opposed the Iowa approach in the past, but perhaps Cullen’s passing will spark a reexamination.
Mission to Oslo: Dancing with the queen, dealmaking with the Russians, shaping history (Little Creek Press)
Written by another veteran of the Wisconsin Legislature, former Assembly Speaker Tom Loftus, this book details the challenges of serving as a U.S. ambassador — even when the nation is a friendly one such as Norway. In keeping with the wry wit of Sun Prairie native Loftus, it also details perks, quirks, and odd formalities that come with the job.
In a sense, Mission to Oslo is a textbook for every generation of ambassadors, including those who may soon be dispatched worldwide by President-elect Trump. Dust-ups and crises can surface even in hospitable settings such as Norway, which in the late 1990s was tested by the still-menacing presence of post-Communist Russia.
The Russian nuclear fleet lay just beyond the border in Murmansk, Russia’s only ice-free port on the Atlantic Ocean. The base was a nuclear contamination accident waiting to happen. Loftus had a front seat for that threat as well as debates over the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and turmoil in the nearby Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) as they slowly emerged from Soviet domination.
Lesson for incoming Bahamian ambassador and ex-football star Herschel Walker and others: It may not be all sunshine and beaches once you’re posted.
The Politics of Resentment: Rural consciousness in Wisconsin and the rise of Scott Walker (University of Chicago Press)
Published in 2016, this book by UW–Madison Professor Katherine J. Cramer took on renewed significance with Trump’s 2024 election victory in Wisconsin.
To this day, especially in liberal bastions such as Madison, some people still can’t believe Trump carried the state. Cramer’s well-researched book may help them understand, as she described an enduring rural political mindset and resentment of the “liberal elite.” As she wrote eight-plus years ago, rural voters don’t always believe politicians will respect the values of their communities and allocate a fair share of resources.
Touching base recently with Cramer, she noted: “Since then, the sense among many rural people that they aren’t getting their fair share of attention, resources and respect has remained relevant to politics in Wisconsin and across the United States. But the other part of The Politics of Resentment — the use of these sentiments by politicians — has become an even bigger part of the story.”
Wisconsin – Where they row: A history of varsity rowing at the University of Wisconsin (University of Wisconsin Press)
In the age of transfer portals and “name-image-likeness” deals in big-time college sports, this illustrated history of varsity rowing at Wisconsin may be an antidote for those who have come to believe it’s all about the money. Author and former varsity swimmer Bradley F. Taylor, also a state business figure, leaves readers with the sense that many people compete in intercollegiate athletics for the fun of it. There’s still open, blue water in college sports.
Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. He can be reached at tstill@wisconsintechnologycouncil.com.
