Storied & Scandalous Wisconsin: A History of Mischief and Menace, Heroes and Heartbreak

by Anna Lardinois

True, shocking tales from Wisconsin's seamy past. Author Anna Lardinois synthesizes well-researched information into cohesive tales of terrible fires, vengeful call girls, famous flim-flam men, and eye-brow archingly suspicious deaths. Meet mob boss Frank Balistrieri and discover the havoc he wreaked. Read the stories of red light districts, rum runners, crimes, and tragedies.

Genres: Nonfiction

181 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2020

Reviews

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun, delightfully weird, little book! Chapters are short and engaging.

Some things I want to remember about Milwaukee:
-Red Arrow Park lies on the former site of an infamous brothel owned by a woman named Kittie Williams. I hope the new Public Museum will still feature her space.
-Milwaukee's organized crime scene grew out of its Little Italy, which was originally located in the Third Ward but relocated to Brady St when the Third Ward was the subject of an urban renewal project against "blight."
-Milwaukee's top gangster was Frank Balistrieri, known as the Mad Bomber for his choice of method for hits.
-The Knickerbocker Hotel's kitchen was once run by a Mafia-moll-turned-criminal-herself.


Not about Milwaukee, but apparently Nelsen's Bar is Wisconsin's oldest continually running bar because it sold old fashioned bitters during Prohibition. Gross but effective!

[MaryJo Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting stories about Wisconsin, most of them unfamiliar to me. Each story is a page or three and the book is divided into chapters about: unhappy love, gangsters, vice (mostly prohibition stories) and shipwrecks. Most of the stories have a murder in them and some end in death. The most interesting is the sad Taliesin story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the widely known story of the sinking of the Edmond Fitzgerald.
Recommended as a book you can read in short pieces. And of course if you are from Wisconsin!

[Molly Snyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book introduced me to stories and people both familiar and unfamiliar from my favorite state: Wisconsin. Much of what I learned was super interesting, some bothersome, but good information to know. For example, I lived on a street in the Riverwest neighborhood named for a man I was always told was an abolitionist, but turns out, was a rapist, too. This is why HERstory is so important, and Anna does a wonderful job unearthing it.

[Kelly Whitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun little history of the dark side of Wisconsin. Lots of names you may recognize in the Mafia section. The shipwrecks were the most intriguing stories to me.

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you have ever researched the unusual history of Wisconsin you probably have heard these stories. I just wish some of the stories were in more detail.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun compilation of very short historical stories about Wisconsin. I had not heard most of them before, so I really enjoyed the book.

[Kristen Luppino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting

Lots of interesting, bizarre Wisconsin stories. Hadn't heard of most of them, so that's pretty cool and fun! Neat read if you're interested in this stuff.

[Mikaila✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting short stories, but many similar to one another towards the second half of the book. Still really enjoyed it though as it taught me a lot!