A horrifying account of a little known social breakdown.

http://www.nytimes.com/library/film/112899wisconsin-film.html

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), November 28, 1999

Answers

Well thanks for that Lars! Just what I needed as I was obsessing about exactly how many cocktail onions will be required in my preparations. "Cocktail onions? Preparations? In the same sentence?" you ask?

""I am mad but not without my reasons," she seems to say with the turn of her body and the dull gleam in her eyes. "And if you had my courage you would know my reasons are yours."

For someone who has abandoned the search for truth and is just looking for suitable fantasy, The wisconsin death trap is so disturbing.

-- msglory (dunwannaknow@home.com), November 28, 1999.

msglory

What we have here is a failure to communicate. I don't claim that this review is an important prep for y2k (I did label it OT) but it does chronicle a little known event in which a "safe" rural location became an anarchistic Hell due to an economic breakdown. People who feel safe because they have bugged out from a city should be reminded that that chaos can visit the boonies too.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), November 28, 1999.

The film _Wisconsin Death Trip_ sounds like a must-see, but seek out the original work if you're interested in the subject.

In the early-80s, I ran a book search and discovered two copies of Michael Lesy's _ Wisconsin Death Trip_ (1973, Pantheon) in an used/out-of-print store, bought them both, and gave one to a friend. I still own a cloth-bound copy in very good condition, one of my most prized books. It's highly recommended to all; I see there's a reprint planned. Warning: This is not uplifting material.

Those interested might check Bibliofind for copies of the original _WDT_ in cloth and paper, but I bet the first run is very expensive now, since the book is legendary and considered somewhat rare. Might be better to wait for the reprint.

The novelist-philosopher William Gass wrote an excellent essay on _WDT_, collected in Gass, _The World Within the World_ (1978, Knopf). Also recomm

-- panjandrum (panjandrum@samfoote.net), November 28, 1999.