Customer Reviews

The Indiana Way: A State History

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Those that are looking for a general overview of history, in the state of Indiana, will get what they are looking for. Well written and researched. I would have liked to have seen more individual accounts, but that is only a personal preference.

As a local history buff, I was pleased to encounter this book at the bookstore. Professor Madison does a nice job outlining Indiana's history in a way that the average arm-chair historian can understand without any difficulty whatsoever. The first section is devoted to the land and the early people who inhabited the land. He does a great job getting the geographical history down in a concise manner. It's easy to ramble about the topic, but Madison does a nice job of being brief, but also impeccable with content. He covers all the bases.
I particulary enjoy the social history, which talks about race-relations and also about people who helped form the State.

Most major events in American History are taken from the Hoosier perspective as well. While reading, you can tell that Madison has a particular love for the State of Indiana. He writes about it in such a way that demonstrates his admiration for the early settlers, but also he looks at them from a realistic point of view. He does not write history from rose-colored glasses, and writes in a honest and refreshing sort of way.

My only complaint would be that there needs to be more pictures. I do have to add that the photos included are obviously carefully selected, as they make silent statements in themselves. For example, the one of Klan members exiting a church in rural Knox, Indiana, or the one of a one-room delapitated school house in northern Clinton Co. He did a great job in selecting appropriate photos... I only wish there were more.

For those of you non-native Hoosiers (such as myself), this book will help explain why things are the way they are here in Indiana. Why don't we observe daylight savings time? It's "the Indiana way". Why are we more conservative than our fellow midwesterners? It's "the Indiana way".

I really thought I was overreacting to the lack of some information in this book, so I gave it to another Hoosier who is well versed in Indiana history and they agreed with me. What is contained in the pages is good; however I found a huge lack of content concerning the more northern sections of the state. The effect of the railroad - after all Indiana for the main years of rail travel was one of the more important sections of rail travel between the east and the west, it had the largest and most modern switching yards in the world. Indiana also was a huge manufacturer of band instruments, it also had one of the main pharmaceutical labs in the world, producing vitamins, Alka-Seltzer. There is no mention at all of one of the larger cities in the northern section that contained all of the previously mentioned items - Elkhart. How can you give a state history and leave out such a significant city?

I bought this book and didn't care if I read it or not. But I did and now I have.

Yeah, it's cool, I guess. I started reading it and fell asleep. When I woke up, the house was on fire and there was a lot of smoke. I don't care, though. Don't worry about it.

Great for interesting dinner-party conversation such as discussing the origins of the state bird, Richmondena Cardinalis Cardinalis. The cardinal (Richmondena cardinalis cardinalis) was adopted as the state bird by the 1933 General Assembly (Indiana Code 1-2-8). The male is bright red; the female is brown with dull red crest, wings and tail. They remain in Indiana year round and nest in thickets of brambles or low saplings. The eggs, 2 to 4, are bluish-white with brown markings.

I don't like to eat the eggs because they taste like that stuff that you cough up after a few years of smoking that coats your esophagus, you know? But some people do like them I guess which is why we have a Richmondena Cardinalis Cardinalis dinner party every 5th Monday. At which point we discuss the origins of Richmondena Cardinalis Cardinalis...which we never did before we owned this book.