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Book Review: Yodeling In Dairyland: A History Of Swiss Music In Wisconsin., Philip V. Bohlman

Swiss American Historical Society Review

One of the most striking indexes of ethnic identity is the extent to which an ethnic group is able to demonstrate that its significance in the history of a region is greater than its number. I've never known whether this was an advantage or disadvantage to Swiss-Americans, whose numbers, after all, have rarely overwhelmed those of other ethnic communities. Southern Wisconsin, nevertheless, has long offered Swiss-Americans the exception that many took as proof of the rule. In Green county, particularly in the towns of New Glarus and Monroe, numbers were on the side of Swiss-Americans, creating for them what James …