cover image More Than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions and the Fight for Wisconsin

More Than They Bargained For: Scott Walker, Unions and the Fight for Wisconsin

Jacob Stein and Patrick Marley. Univ. of Wisconsin, $26.95 trade paper (344p) ISBN 978-0-299-29384-0

Stein and Marley, reporters for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, deliver a swashbuckling tale of Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker's election and tumultuous first year in office. Walker, who was the first Republican to win "in a dozen years," took much of the state by surprise when he introduced "2011 Act 10", a sweeping reform bill designed to slash state spending and remove Union bargaining power for state and local workers. But instead of an expected dry read, the authors' lively, economical prose, supplemented by snippets of social media reporting in real time, place readers in the crowded Capitol building stairwells, or in the midst of Wisconsin's largest sustained demonstration since Viet Nam protests rocked the University of Wisconsin campus. They follow as Democratic members of the Wisconsin senate decamp to Illinois to avoid a controversial and vital vote in the House, recording every detail and using each twist and turn to provide added insight. In a story that rocks with conservative and liberal flip flops, and results in Walker being elected governor "twice in one term," the authors' dedication and drive make this necessary reading on current American politics. (Apr.)