Milwaukee’s colorful past, more interesting than the history of many heartland cities, is being examined in a series of profusely illustrated books from Arcadia Publishing. Larry Widen, whose previous book examined Milwaukee cinemas, contributes a look at the city’s flourishing cultural milieu through the mid-20th century. During those years Houdini headlined in Milwaukee at the Majestic Theatre, museums sprouted along Wisconsin Avenue and Downtown was crowded with theaters, concert halls and exhibition buildings, many of them architecturally fabulous. Frank Alioto remembers Brady Street’s early ethnic history, its role as a thriving business district and, in the 1960s, mecca for the local counterculture. The pictures in both books are fascinating photo albums of Milwaukee’s past.

On page 10 of Due Considerations: Essays and Criticism (Knopf), John Updike makes it clear that he’s reluctant to be “a subject of extended biographical treatment,” wherein “some callow inquisitor interprets his life.” At age 75, the elegantly reserved Pennsylvania Dutchman says that “a fiction writer’s . . .

After being a battleground for two world wars, Europe’s appetite for warfare declined while America’s willingness to employ force continued. Stanford humanities professor James J. Sheehan lucidly explores the tectonic shift that moved European nations from garrison states to consumer societies . . .

With summer still months away, mentally transporting yourself to warmer climes isn’t a bad idea. On Feb. 12, the Friends of the UWM Golda Meir Library hosts a talk and book-signing by author Paul Salsini, followed by a demonstration of Tuscan cooking by chef-instructors Elissa Frank and Simonetta Palazio . . .

You can never know too much - not even about sports.

The life of Blind Willie McTell

You could almost suppose that Germany had no past before 1933, so massively does the Third Reich overwhelm popular thought and historical writing about the country. But it does, and one of the most interesting periods is the one immediately preceding . . .

Civilization first stirred in the Fertile Crescent. It was also the birthplace of three of the world’s major religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas may be a slightly misleading title. It includes maps but is no atlas and . . .

Despite the discouraging consensus that the hand of fate is heavy and immovable, how many of us daydream about what we may have done differently if we could go back in time?

Years before Jeffrey Dahmer, many in Wisconsin wondered if the state hadn’t nurtured more than its normal share of demented killers. In the 1960s the great Wisconsin writer August Derleth even devoted a book to the subject.