The University of Wisconsin Press

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Biography / Politics / Wisconsin

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A Mind of her Own Helen Connor Laird and Family, 1888–1982 Helen L. Laird Wisconsin Land and Life Arnold Alanen, Series Editor "This biography of my grandmother interweaves a woman's personal story with the history of her time. I found it to be a deeply moving, well researched, suspenseful odyssey."—Jessica Doyle, First Lady of Wisconsin A Mind of Her Own: Helen Connor Laird and Family, 1888–1982 captures the public achievement and private pain of a remarkable Wisconsin woman and her family, whose interests and influence extended well beyond the borders of the state. The eldest child of William Duncan Connor, a major figure in Wisconsin's emerging hardwood lumber industry and its turbulent turn-of-the-century political scene, Helen Connor Laird spent almost her entire ninety-three years in central and northern Wisconsin. Nevertheless, her voracious reading and probing mind connected her to the world. Her early life in frontier communities, home influences, Presbyterian background, and education, as well as the talents she recognized in herself, impelled her to lead. Marriage, duty, and four sons did not stem that desire. By the time her third child, Melvin R. Laird Jr., became secretary of defense in 1969, she had served in leadership positions in her community, district, and state. While business absorbed her competitive family, her own interests lay elsewhere: in politics and education. Throughout her life, she kept records of the evolving world she and her family inhabited, and of her own emotional states. "Remember, we are all lonely," the "closet poet" said. Spanning almost a century, the family's history speaks to the way we were and are: a stridently materialistic nation with a deep and persistent spiritual component. "A Mind of Her Own is first and foremost the highly insightful biography of a remarkable woman who was an astute participant/observer in many of the most significant events and developments of her time over nearly nine decades. It is the saga of one of Wisconsin's most important and influential families over three generations."–John Buenker, professor emeritus of history, University of Wisconsin­Parkside Helen Laird is the author of Carl Oscar Borg and the Magic Region: Artists of the American West. She lives in Marshfield, Wisconsin, and serves on the Wisconsin Historical Society's Board of Curators. Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)

November 2005 LC: 2005010204 CT 504 pp.    6 x 9 42 b/w photographs Cloth $34.95 t ISBN 978-0-299-21450-0 ADD TO CART

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