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In this volume, a diverse group of scholars explores key themes in the distinctive history of Milwaukee, from settlement to the present, both in terms of the area's internal development and its comparative standing with other Great Lakes cities. Contributors discuss the importance of socialism and labor in local politics; Milwaukee's ethnic diversity, including long-standing African American, Latino, and Asian communities as well as an unusually large and significant German American population; the function and origins of the city's residential architecture; and the role of religious and ethnic culture in forming the city's identity. Rich in detail, the essays also challenge readers and researchers to pursue additional research on the city and the region by identifying critical areas and methods for future investigations into Milwaukee's past.

Contributors are Margo Anderson, Steven M. Avella, John D. Buenker, Jack Dougherty, Eric Fure-Slocum, Victor Greene, Thomas C. Hubka, Judith T. Kenny, Genevieve G. McBride, Aims McGuinness, Anke Ortlepp, Joseph A. Rodriguez, and N. Mark Shelley.

Young men ride horses on a dusty main road through town. Cars and gas stations gradually intrude on the land, and, years later, curiosity shops and cantinas change the face of Mexican border towns south of Arizona. Between 1900 and the late 1950s, Mexican border towns came of age both as centers of commerce and as tourist destinations. Postcards from the Sonora Border reveals how images—in this case the iconic postcard—shape the way we experience and think about place.

Making use of his personal collection of historic images, Daniel D. Arreola captures the evolution of Sonoran border towns, creating a sense of visual “time travel” for the reader. Supported by maps and visual imagery, the author shares the geographical and historical story of five unique border towns—Agua Prieta, Naco, Nogales, Sonoyta, and San Luis Río Colorado.

Postcards from the Sonora Border introduces us to these important towns and provides individual stories about each, using the postcards as markers. No one postcard view tells the complete story—rather, the sense of place emerges image by image as the author pulls readers through the collection as an assembled view. Arreola reveals how often the same locations and landmarks of a town were photographed as postcard images generation after generation, giving a long and dynamic view of the inhabitants through time. Arranged chronologically, Arreola’s postcards allow us to discover the changing perceptions of place in the borderlands of Sonora, Mexico.

A case study on how urban capitalism created a new working-class food system in the port city of Mombasa during the twentieth century​.

In the early twentieth century, East Africans lived primarily in rural areas, cultivating most of the food they consumed. By the start of the twenty-first century, though, millions of people lived in cities, where they purchased their food from markets and eateries. This transformation reflects broader historical shifts in food production, preparation, and consumption throughout the world from a rural subsistence model to a commercial system. Preparing the Modern Meal explores this economic revolution in Mombasa, Kenya, and examines the experiences of those who migrated from rural settings to an Indian Ocean town where they became dependent on the capitalist market for their daily meals.

The change to a commercial food system reshaped the culinary culture of East Africa. In rural communities, diets were diverse and varied with the seasons. Conversely, Mombasa’s commercial supply chains, which steadily delivered staples like maize meal, wheat flour, tea, and meat, led to a more uniform urban cuisine that remained consistent throughout the year.

Urbanization also altered gender roles in cooking. In rural households women prepared the food, but in Mombasa many workers lived in all-male housing and had to cook for themselves. Some even took up cooking as a profession, thus expanding the role of men in the culinary domain. In addition to these themes, Preparing the Modern Meal reviews the emergence of new businesses, particularly those of street food vendors who provided affordable meals in residential neighborhoods and to nearby workplaces. However, these makeshift eateries often clashed with the vision for commerce in a modern city held by municipal officials, who often sought to eliminate these businesses through fines, arrests, and demolition campaigns. Through the lens of food, this book explores the conflicts between elite ideas about urban modernity and the actual ways that poor communities made their lives work in an unequal city.