Brewtown Tales

We're in the process of updating our website! Learn more about what that means and how you can help create history..

Description

No one knows Brewtown like John Gurda. Whether warming a barstool at a classic South Side tavern, admiring the recently restored clock tower of City Hall, or paddling a canoe from one end of the city to the other, he has made it his life’s work to tell Milwaukee stories full of history, humor, and heart. In Brewtown Tales—the follow-up to his award-winning Cream City Chronicles—Gurda draws from his long-running Milwaukee Journal Sentinel column to collect eighty short essays that pay homage to his hometown.

In these pages, Gurda imparts intriguing facts about Milwaukee landmarks and personalities, addresses contemporary issues of segregation and political polarization, and shares personal anecdotes, from childhood memories of the Braves’ 1957 World Series win to reflections on retirement. Taken together, the enclosed Brewtown tales are the memoirs of a native Milwaukeean, a manifesto on the importance of local history, a compendium of compelling stories, and, above all, a love letter to a singular city.

Author Bio

John Gurda is a Milwaukee-born writer and historian who has been studying his hometown since the early 1970s. He is the author of more than 20 books, including histories of Milwaukee-area neighborhoods, industries, and places of worship. In addition to his work as an author, Gurda is a lecturer, tour guide, and former local history columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. His earned a BA in English from Boston College and holds an MA in Cultural Geography and an honorary PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

John Gurda, Milwaukee's peerless historian, has written a book so steeped in his city that you can see, hear, and smell all he describes. If you love this place, as Gurda so obviously does, you wil laugh, you will cry, and you will never forget that you read 'Brewtown Tales.'

George Stanley, editor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"As much as John Gurda wants us to believe he is only nostalgic about baseball, this new work proves that his sentimental affection for the past reaches all corners of his life. John is a gifted researcher and renowned historian. Brewtown Tales proves his work as an essayist is his greatedt gift. These are John's stories to tell and, it turns out, all of ours to fondly remember."

—John McGivern, television host, actor, and entertainer