Current Issue of the Wisconsin Magazine of History
Winter 2024, Volume 108, Number 2
Patti Smith reads the Bugle American on a Milwaukee tour date in March 1976.
Featured Story
The Rise of the Bugle American
By Aurore Sibley
Out of the contentious environment of early 1970s Wisconsin, a group of hopeful young writers and artists created one of state’s most influential underground newspapers. Founded as an alternative to more radical weeklies, the Bugle American offered readers in Milwaukee and Madison a wide range of content covering politics, community happenings, music, opinion, and more—including reviews of performances by Patti Smith and the Rolling Stones. Originally founded in Madison by writers Dave Schreiner and Mike Hughes and cartoonist Denis Kitchen, the newspaper grew into a cultural phenomenon after moving its offices to Milwaukee. With a robust staff and steady readership, the Bugle thrived as a non-mainstream news source willing to challenge the status quo—even after a shocking firebombing attack in 1975 left the Bugle offices in ruins.
After arriving in Finland only to find it had surrendered to the Russians, David Bradley ventured into Lapland to get a taste of northern Finnish culture and learn how the Russian aggression was affecting the locals.
Dave Bradley’s Extraordinary Gap Year
By Matthew Blessing
When his dreams of winning gold were dashed by the cancellation of the 1940 Olympics, Madison native David Bradley, a recent graduate of Dartmouth, had to change course. As Matt Blessing explains, he turned disappointment into opportunity and devised a gap year like no other. Using family connections, Bradley secured a position as a correspondent with Lee Syndicate Newspapers, and in late 1939 he found himself aboard the SS Bergensfjord headed to Finland. Despite Finland’s surrender to Soviet forces just days after his arrival, Bradley traveled throughout Finland that spring reporting to American papers about the war’s effects on the countryside. This would be the first of many efforts to educate the public through his writing. After returning home and completing a medical degree, Bradley rejoined the war effort as a member of the army. While he did not face battle, he studied the effects the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests on troops, eventually leading to his publication of No Place to Hide, a widely-lauded book that informed the public about the dangers of radioactive fallout.
Once owned by the author’s family, the East Arcadia Roller Mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
The Comfort of an Old World Tradition Nite, Part Two
By Tom Sieger
Combining cozy holiday comfort with family-based memoir, author Tom Sieger takes readers through the history of his family’s Christmas Eve tradition of baking poppyseed coffee cake. Sieger traces his family’s path from Silesia (today, part of Poland) to Arcadia Township in Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, where his grandfather purchased the East Arcadia Roller Mill. Bridging continents and generations, Sieger brings to life Wisconsin’s rich Polish heritage—and shows how foodways keep us connected with people and places from our past.
Book Excerpt
Extra! Extra! Eat All About It!
By Jane Conway and Randi Julia Ramsden
Released this fall by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Extra! Extra! Eat All About It! blends cookbook-style recipes and bite-sized history to take readers on a delicious journey through the Midwestern culinary landscape of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Filled to the brim with charming, quirky, and surprising recipes of the past, the book satisfies the appetites of history lovers and home chefs alike.
A subscription to the Wisconsin Magazine of History is a benefit of membership to the Wisconsin Historical Society. The current issue, described above, will become available in the online archives as soon the next issue is published.
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