A Thousand Pieces of Paradise: Landscape and Property in the Kickapoo Valley

by Lynne Heasley

Overview

A Thousand Pieces of Paradise is an ecological history of property and a cultural history of rural ecosystems set in one of Wisconsin’s most famous regions, the Kickapoo Valley. While examining the national war on soil erosion in the 1930s, a controversial real estate development scheme, Amish land settlement, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam project, and Native American efforts to assert longstanding land claims, Lynne Heasley traces the historical development of modern American property debates within ever-more-diverse rural landscapes and cultures. Heasley argues that the way public discourse has framed environmental debates hides the full shape our system of property has taken in rural communities and landscapes. She shows how democratic and fluid visions of property—based on community relationships—have coexisted alongside individualistic visions of property rights. In this environmental biography of a landscape and its people lie powerful lessons for rural communities seeking to understand and reconcile competing values about land and their place in it.

Published in association with the Center for American Places, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Staunton, Virginia. www.americanplaces.org


“So much for cookie-cutter stereotypes of the rural Midwest! . . . Highly recommended.”—Choice

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780299213930
Publisher:	University of Wisconsin Press
Publication date:	04/19/2012
Series:	Wisconsin Land and Life
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	248
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Lynne Heasley is assistant professor of history and environmental studies at Western Michigan University.

Table of Contents

Illustrations



Acknowledgments







Introduction



Prologue: Weekend Drive, Summer 2002







Part 1: Landscape Succession



1. Intended Consequences: Soil Conservation



2. A Midwestern Ranch



3. What the Real Estate Ads DonÆt Tell You







Part 2: A Community on the Land



4. Outsiders



5. An Amish Environment







Part 3 : Negotiating the Past and Future Landscape



6. A Dam for New Times



7. Deer Unlimited



8. (Re)Enter the Ho-Chunk







Conclusion: Claims on Paradise







Notes



Bibliography



Index

Editorial Reviews

"An insightful, engaging, and highly readable treatment of a complex set of themes. While the story told focuses on southwestern Wisconsin, the lessons learned are applicable throughout rural America."—Harvey Jacobs, editor of Who Owns America: Social Conflict Over Property Rights

“This penetrating analysis of the complex forces that shape the landscape is a welcome relief from the narrow, rancorous debate between private property rights and outside government interference.”—Brian Donahue, author of Reclaiming the Commons: Community Farms and Forests in a New England Town

“An insightful, engaging, and highly readable treatment of a complex set of themes . . . the lessons learned are applicable throughout rural America.”—Harvey Jacobs, editor of Who Owns America: Social Conflict Over Property Rights

“Although this is a superb study of how the land itself is changing, it is even better as a series of interwoven human stories.”—Richarad Francaviglia, American Historical Review

“A splendid job. The book provides great insights into what is happening in these rural counties. I would urge any planner with an interest in rural planning to read the book before embarking on a career . . . in such regions.”—Harold (Bud) C. Jordahl, Jr., co-founder of the first Earth Day and leader in establishing the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore

“Extensively researched and carefully documented, A Thousand Pieces of Paradise is thoroughly accessible to lay readers and scholars alike, and searches past history of Kickapoo Valley’s rural ecosystems in hope of offering accurate future predictions of and solutions to future problems for Kickapoo Valley and other lands like it.”—Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher