University of Chicago Press pays extra attention to our landscape and waterways these days with two impressive new books.
The first, "The Vanishing Present: Wisconsin's Changing Lands, Waters and Wildlife," edited by Donald M. Waller -- a botany and environmental studies professor at UW-Madison -- and Thomas P. Rooney -- an assistant prof in biological sciences at Wright State -- is published in hardcover this month.
Over the course of 32 essays covering more than 500 pages, a range of scholars, naturalists and experts examines how the hand of man has altered and continues to alter Wisconsin's wetlands, forests, prairies and other natural features.
Sure, many of the chapters have titles like "How Have Wisconsin's Lichen Communities Changed?", but this hefty tome is really an accessible survey of the state of our state's natural places and resources. So, don't let the footnotes scare you away, follow Waller and Rooney as they dig deep into the Wisconsin soil.
Much more visually engaging and immediately alluring is Eddee Daniel's "Urban Wilderness: Exploring a Metropolitan Watershed," published in large-format paperback this month.
Daniel, who collaborates with Friends of Milwaukee's Rivers, has been a photography teacher for more than a quarter of a century, so it should come as little surprise that this exploration and meditation on the Menomonee River is heavily illustrated with color photos that bring this book alive.
Anyone familiar with the concrete-banked torrent we see under the Wisconsin Avenue viaduct or the stretch of river running through the former industrial wasteland of the Menomonee Valley will be surprised to see Daniel's images of wildlife, prairies and woods that are part of the river's reality before it arrives here.
Of course, Daniel looks at the river's woes and foes, and he also catalogs the great successes that preservationists and environmentalists have made in working to make the Menomonee a clean haven for wildlife and human life, too.
"The Vanishing Present" carries a $40 cover price, while "Urban Wilderness" retails for $27.50.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
