Wisconsin Death Trip

December 1, 1990
The dark side of rural American life is documented in photos and text that portray the suffering from poverty, disease and boredom within a small Wisconsin community at the turn of the century. ``Young historian Michael Lesy is not a polished writer, but he has scored powerfully with this provocative probe,'' judged PW .

April 15, 2000
As the title suggests, this is a truly strange book. Published in 1973, it is essentially a collection of photos taken in Black River Falls, WI, by Charles Van Schaik between 1890 and 1910. The subject matter ranges from children in coffins, to farm animals, to family portraits of some of the grimmest-looking people imaginable; the photos are accompanied by snippets from newspapers. The whole package seems to confirm that the good old days were actually awful.

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