Jerold W. Apps

As readers of my reviews may be aware, I am a Jerry Apps fan. “Once A Professor “ is a deviation from most of his other books that I have read. Those are generally histories or reflections on rural life. This one is a memoir of his careers beginning in the University of Wisconsin’s Extension Division through his gradual evolution into a full, tenured professor at the Madison campus.

Apps grew up on a Wisconsin and became the first in his family to attend college. His first professional job was as the 4-H Director in Brown County (Green Bay). His career path spanning 1951-1994 included publications director, teacher, researcher, graduate advisor, department chair and, eventually, retired writer.

Being a memoir, this is a personal history. As a non-academic I found the account of the challenges of a college professor to be interesting. An academic may wish to compare experiences. The concept of gradually being drawn into teaching, rather than it being an original goal, was a not what I expected. The requirements to advance education while balancing a job and family was beyond my ken. I was particularly fascinated by a faculty member’s perspective on the social unrest that erupted on Wisconsin’s campus during the 1960s and 1970s. This supplements the view of campus unrest documented in “Madison in the Sixties” by Stuart D. Levitan (see my review).

“Once A Professor” is a matter-of-fact, quick but informative and enjoyable read.

I did receive a free copy of this book without an obligation to post a review.… (meer)

Explorers chart wildernesses and politicians draw boundaries, but businesses and industries build communities. “When The White Pine Was King” is the story of the transformative role the logging industry played in shaping communities and the economy of early Wisconsin.

The narrative begins with an introduction of the author’s association with Wisconsin’s logging heritage. It continues with accounts of how the glaciers shaped Wisconsin and the Indian nations and early explorers adapted to it. Wisconsin’s climate and soil set the stage for massive forests of white pine that was superior that the stands in other states. The forests attracted skilled loggers from New England and Canada’s Maritime provinces. Author Jerry Apps guides the readers through Wisconsin’s logging tales, both chronologically and by subject. He narrates the sagas of the techniques of cutting, transporting and processing the logs, the lumberjack’s camps and life, the sawmills and life in the sawmill towns.

Beginning well before the Civil War, Wisconsin logging reached its peak around 1890 after which it commenced a long decline. As harvestable timber was exhausted, many companies moved into other regions, leaving behind baren wastelands, although some sought to convert to sustainable planting and cutting. Attempts to convert abandoned forests to farmland predictably failed due to climate and soil quality. Eventually, reforestation was adopted as the only profitable use of the land.

This is another in Jerry Apps’ extensive canon focusing on Wisconsin history and memory. Unlike some authors who tell a story through essentially independently standing anecdotes, Apps again exhibits his ability to weave the stories of individuals, the rise and decline of communities, the business practices that directed an industry and its place in the American Pageant into a readable, informative and enjoyable tome. He chronicles the reasons logging and milling took place when and where the did. He highlights some of the giants who built their businesses, such as Frederick Weyerhaeuser. He confronts the reader with concept that “Ecologically, no force since the glaciers has rivaled northern logging in either its immediate or long-term effects.” (p. 116) The photos and notes supplement the text and the sidebars provide snippets of characters, lore and context that enhance the tales.

“When The White Pine Was King” is a treasure. I have read several of Jerry Apps’ books and my favorite has been “Wisconsin Agriculture” (see my review) for its saga of farming’s contribution to the building of the Dairy State. “White Pine” is similar, though shorter, and is a strong contender for my blue ribbon. I recommend it to anyone interested in the role of logging in building of civilizations in Northern Wisconsin or similar regions elsewhere on the continent.

I did receive a free copy of this book without an obligation to post a review.… (meer)

Jerry Apps has really done a tremendous service to Wisconsin residents by detailing much of our local rural history. His non-fiction books are very enjoyable and informative.
His fiction.....well, not so much.
It's not a bad story. It's well written, moderately entertaining, and obviously a topic he is an expert on. But for me, it's just not a "WOW." Some of the dialog seems contrived, the story itself is rather predictable, and a little bit preachy too. I would have appreciated more to the story. It seems like a lot of the characters don't have much depth - as if the story is written by the same town gossips that Apps disparages rather than by the characters themselves.… (meer)