WINNER OF THE 2020 MIDWEST BOOK AWARD

Years ago, Steve Hannah’s chance detour through the Midwest cut short a planned cross-country trip. He found himself in Wisconsin, a distinctly different place from the east coast where he was born and raised. Charmingly beautiful and full of welcoming people, America’s dairyland would soon become his home.

Dairylandia recounts Steve Hannah’s burgeoning love for his adopted state through the writings of his long-lived column, “State of Mind.” He profiles the lives of the seemingly ordinary, yet quite (and quietly) extraordinary folks he met and befriended on his travels. From Norwegian farmers to rattlesnake hunters to a woman who kept her favorite dead bird in the freezer, Hannah was charmed and fascinated by practically everyone he met. These captivating vignettes are by turns humorous, tragic, and remarkable—and remind us of our shared humanity.

MEET STEVE

Steve Hannah spent almost two decades as a pretty good reporter, sometime columnist and managing editor of the Milwaukee Journal. He then devoted twelve years of his life to writing a syndicated column called “State of Mind.”

The last ten years of his career were spent as CEO of The Onion, America’s Finest News Source. He once spent a winter night in northern Wisconsin with a guy who invented a contraption that would take the whole shell off a hardboiled egg by employing an electrifying two-handed thrust that resembled the Heimlich maneuver. While the experience didn’t exactly change his life, it was a lot more interesting than covering the State Legislature.