Barns of Wisconsin - Softcover

Apps, Jerry; Strong, Allen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0915024489 ISBN 13: 9780915024483

Publisher: Wisconsin Trails, 2001

Synopsis

In this revised edition of an award-winning work, Jerry Apps provides an informative and moving account of Wisconsin's most hand-working structures -- its barns. Symbols of optimism, pride, and practicality, barns are as diverse as the people who built them. Here Apps describes the exquisite craftmanship with which Finns, Norweigans, Germans and other immigrant groups built their pioneer barns. We learn, too, how round and octagonal barns developed, and why cupolas and lightning rods were used, and how some of Wisconsin's barns became covered with colorful murals and billboards. Allen Strang's meticulous pencil sketches and eight stunning watercolors illustrate the text. Unfortunately, our barns are fast disappearing, victims of urban development and the trend toward large-scale farming. In a new chapter, Apps describes the nationwide movement to save these historic structures, and tells us how some owners have converted barns to innovative new uses. In so doing, he offers both inspiration and practical advice to anyone who believes these magnificent buildings should continue to stand proudly in the Wisconsin landscape.

About this title

About the Author:

Jerry Apps was raised on a central Wisconsin farm, where he spent many hours working in a barn. Currently, he is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, devoting most of his time to writing about rural American, particularly the northern Midwest. He farms part time in Waushara County is the author of countless books.

Review:

Barns should be read by every farm buff in the country, as well as those who do not yet qualify. -- Richard Perrin, Wisconsin Academy Reivew

This book is for barn buffs -- a delightful way to learn about barns in the comfort of an armchair. -- Prairie Farmer

This excellent pictorial history focuses on barns as the center and symbol of pre-World War II Midwestern farming. -- American Library Association

About this edition

• Publisher: Wisconsin Trails
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0915024489
• ISBN 13: 9780915024483
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 151