Campus Authors

The safe and sedate Fox Cities have seen their share of horrible crimes. A must-read for fans of true crime and Wisconsin history.

Cold Blooded murder, kidnapping, prostitution, organized crime and other misdeeds shocked and appalled not just the community known as the Fox Cities, but the entire state of Wisconsin. Murderer Porter Ross tried to commit suicide by eating bedsprings. Wenzel Kabat mutilated and burned a man in order to take over his farm. The Appleton Butcher left dismembered human remains on a playground for children to find.

n this volume, crime writer and leading expert on the Milwaukee Mafia Gavin Schmitt turns his magnifying glass on the dark underbelly of small-town America. Revisit these skeletons in suburban closets that will have you looking over your shoulder as you read.

What was American welfare like in George Washington's day? It was expensive, extensive, and run by local governments. Known as poor relief, it included what we would now call welfare and social work. Unlike other aspects of government, poor relief remained consistent in structure between the
establishment of the British colonies in the 1600s and the New Deal of the 1930s. In this book, Gabriel J. Loiacono follows the lives of five people in Rhode Island between the Revolutionary War and 1850: a long-serving overseer of the poor, a Continental Army veteran who was repeatedly banished
from town, a nurse who was paid by the government to care for the poor, an unwed mother who cared for the elderly, and a paralyzed young man who attempted to become a Christian missionary from inside of a poorhouse. Of Native, African, and English descent, these five Rhode Islanders utilized poor
relief in various ways. Tracing their involvement with these programs, Loiacono explains the importance of welfare through the first few generations of United States history.

In Washington's day, poor relief was both generous and controlling. Two centuries ago, Americans paid for--and many relied on--an astonishing governmental system that provided food, housing, and medical care to those in need. This poor relief system also shaped American households and dictated where
Americans could live and work. Recent generations have assumed that welfare is a new development in the United States. This book shows how old welfare is in the United States of America through five little-known, but compelling, life stories.

Lake Winnebago has a rich history as a major settlement area in the Midwest, and a significant part of its times gone by involved water transportation for both commerce and passengers. Throughout its history, the 137,700-acre lake has been home to six current lighthouses, two navigation lanterns that have long disappeared from the landscape, and one that was scheduled to be built but never came to fruition. History has forgotten a few, but Lighthouses of Lake Winnebago will take you on a trip around the largest lake within Wisconsin's borders and show you the familiar, while introducing you to the forgotten.