Every city should have a John Gurda. When questions arise about Milwaukee’s past—from its beer barons, it’s periods of immigrant arrivals, and, more recently, its experience with the Spanish flu of 1918—Gurda is the go to guy. He’s been telling the histories of his hometown since 1972 and has written many books, including “The Making of Milwaukee,” which was turned into an Emmy-winning Milwaukee PBS documentary series. He writes an opinion column for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, analysis based on a historical perspective of area neighborhoods and towns. Gurda, much beloved here, often seen riding his bike across the city and hard at work doing research in local libraries, fell into his role accidentally. He was working on a pamphlet for Journey House, a southside social service agency, and realized his own history is enmeshed with Milwaukee’s. Seeking more training, he earned a master’s degree in cultural geography in 1978 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which later gave him an honorary doctorate. His accolades include being an eight-time winner of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Award of Merit. Visiting his Bay View home, we asked for a peek at his office, hoping to see where some of the magic happens. He willingly took us upstairs where a modest shelf held a life’s work, the 22 books he’s written to date. When we asked Gurda about democracy, he talked about the great Aldo Leopold, who many consider to be the father of wildlife ecology. Gurda spoke with great wisdom about Leopold’s land ethic and its implications for society at large.