The Fall of Wisconsin: The Conservative Conquest of a Progressive Bastion and the Future of American Politics

"Wisconsin is a laboratory for the rest of the country." Those are words that might have once applied to the progressive "Wisconsin Idea," but in Kaufman's book are spoken by a conservative activist about such ideas as school vouchers and dismantling of public unions. Kaufman, Wisconsin-raised, traces with a low-key passion the state's political history from such figures as Fighting Bob La Follette and Aldo Leopold to today's conservative hero/liberal villain Scott Walker, and by the end he will leave you entirely unsurprised by the big "surprise" that the "blue wall" of Wisconsin went red in 2016. But his heart, like his measured optimism, lies with local activists like ironworker and Congressional candidate Randy "IronStache" Bryce, who keep working tirelessly in what might, at first, seem a losing cause.