Book Review

Mark Wyman, a professor of history at Illinois State University, lays out a tantalizing and well-researched story of Wisconsin's frontier history. Early pages describe the glacial activity that molded the land, formed the lakes, gave rise to the rivers, and ended but a scant nine thousand years ago. We learn about the early Indian tribes, the first French explorers, and the fur-trading era.	1
Wyman's writing style is appealing, and his research uncovers material often overlooked. For instance, most books say that in 1634 Jean Nicolet, a Frenchman, was the first European to visit what became Wisconsin. Wyman suggests that Etienne Brule, another Frenchman, came a few years earlier when he explored Lake Superior. Unfortunately, Brule was killed and eaten by the Hurons in 1632 and thus could not comment on his earlier trip.	2
By the late 1600s the British had made inroads into the region, also to trade for furs. After years of conflict with the British, the French gave up Wisconsin in a 1763 peace treaty. After the War of 1812, the British, too, were forced to leave. In the midst of the conflicts among the European traders there was open warfare between various Indian tribes, especially the Chippewa and the Sioux. These roughly 150 years of fur trading in Wisconsin were years of conflict and stress—scarcely idyllic, as some writers have suggested.	. . .