Michigan Books

This book is a must for any Kalamazoo historian, or anyone who is passionate about early automobile history. There are over 300 photographs, and a whole section in color. Much of the book is told as a story, which really brings to life the people and times of Kalamazoo. A beautiful book.

These marriage and death records were abstracted from five Grand Rapids newspapers for the years 1847-1866 by the late Marguerite N. Lambert of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan initiated vital record registration in 1867 making these earlier marriage and death records valuable to researchers. This is her third book of newspaper marriage and death records which have been published posthumously. Her two earlier publications were Marshall, Michigan Marriage and Death Newspaper Notices and Wayne County Newspaper Marriage and Death Notices. Arrangement is first by marriages, followed by the more numerous death notices, many from out of town. This book is an excellent resource for anyone researching not only in Kent County, but in the entire State of Michigan. A full name index is included.

Estleman's Kevin, "Doc" Miller, first an ex-big league pitcher, and then an ex-con on parole trys to earn an extra buck by moon-lighting as a cab drver in the Motor City. When he throws in with Maynard Ance, a disreputable bail bondsman and a defrocked lawyer, the fun begins. First, he is caught at the scene of a murder, a major parole violation. Next, Detective Charlie Battle tries to turn Doc into an informant by threatening him with a repeat stay at the State's "big hotel" in Jackson. Doc tries to please both sides, but isn't surprised when he finds out that Ance cozy with the mayor's spurious friends, drug dealers, African-American Activists and even a former madam that knows most of Detroit's depraved history. While all the clandestine action is going on, "Doc" is struggling to go straight, stay alive and teach his nephew Sean the fine art of major league pitching. After a masterful twist of suspense, all ends well. Estleman's writing and characters make the story undeniably Detroit in the early 1990s! The book is a great read; tough to put down.

I just read Kreepy Klowns of Kalamazoo and I thought it was a good book. The story is great, about some Klowns (yes with a 'K') that try to take over the carnival. There are some errors in grammar and spelling in mine (because I have an old one), but you can understand what it is trying to say. I gave it a 5 star rating because it was a good idea to make into a book.

Ann Biersteker has produced an extremely insightful and quite extraordinary piece of art. Bearing in mind that literature is the collective memory of a people, she points out what a significant role language plays in literature. She stresses that language is not just a means of communication, but also a carrier of culture. In Swahili Poetry we find unexpected elements of resistance and it becomes a fascinating undertaking to trace the development of a culture in the language of its poetry. Biersteker also emphasizes how rich the heritage of Swahili Poetry is and it occurs to me that her text should be included in many syllabi in East Africa to foster an appreciation of the East African identity. Especially students of history and literature will find her work helpful since it provides such insight into power-relationships that explain the events of the 20th century. This book is a fabulous reading experience, although I must say that knowing the Swahili language made the reading much richer. I thoroughly enjoyed the balance between analytic text and melodic poetry. I also appreciated the authenticity in research and the credibility of sources. This book is definitely a brilliant source for further studies in East African poetry, but also East African Political Thought.

I enjoy very much this wonderful multi-media disc and learned from it a lot. it is composed by the theatre scholar and kutiyattam actor and expert prof. Farley Richmond. his explanations are supported with a lots of photos, sound tracks and video tracks, and some rare-to-find articles and translations are added in an appendix, along with a detailed bibliography. just to give the feeling of the wonderful material this disc contains, in aboundance: juxtapositions of different actors performing the same rasa; short rare clips of amazing acting sequences of madhava cakyar, [espacially amazing are his feats of eye-acting (netrabhinaya)]; tracks of vidusaka talk, hero recitation, nanyar recitation; sound of different svaras; recitations of namboodri brahmins,and cakyars juxtaposed. all the different eye movements exercised, depicted graphicaly, and than you can see the actor performing it. photos of the different kutumbalams, and more and more. some of the videos are from the first filming of kutiyattam actors done ever! a real treasure!

The first of Clary's books. If you have any interest in the history of ships of the Great Lakes, this book is a must.

Jared Smith's Lake Michigan and Other Poems is a marvelous find. These poems have a seriousness and command of language that comes only with deep insight and deep talent. Few things are more exciting than finding a book of poetry so good you wonder why you haven't heard of the poet. I don't read poetry much because I don't like the obscure, doctrinaire, or wonder-of-my-pain stuff that so frequently comes from MFA trained poets.

Mr. Smith is different. He writes about Lake Michigan in the title poem of the collection and writes about it the way Walt Whitman wrote about America--celebrating its force, depth, reality. Jared Smith makes, lets, forces us, to experience the power and mystery and necessity of the lake (and other depths) at the heart of the heart of the country. He understands place. He understands place in the way we need to understand place. Even if that place is rusting and forgotten. He gets at how place is in our gut.

These poems have been thought about. They have been felt. Lived. Talent helps and Mr. Smith has plenty of talent. He can write, "My whole life has been controlled by ghosts," and when we finish the poem of that name, we know how real those ghosts are.

The absolutely remarkable poem, "Driving Small Town America" starts:

what is it to play michaelangelo's adam
and reach out a sistine finger
to BOMB
with a fingertip
when nothing comes back at you?

The poem ends:
In the begining is the word
and it is BOMB

I haven't read better commentary on the Iraq war than that and I read allot.

Other poems deal with solitude, grown children, lost or changed relationships. Smith knows the loneliness and hardness that underlies and surrounds most of life. He does not show it off. Pain and deep-living of life have been transmuted into art.

Lake Michigan and Other Poems is remarkable. I keep it by my bed so I can read and reread. That's the highest compliment I give a book.

Written by expert limnologist and former director of the Center for Great Lakes Studies Clifford Mortimer, Lake Michigan In Motion: Responses Of An Inland Sea To Weather, Earth-Spin, And Human Activities is a detailed, scholarly, and scientific examination of Lake Michigan. Black-and-white photographs, charts, and diagrams illustrate chapters covering the history of scientific inquiry into Lake Michigan's physicality, water levels and flows, seasonal cycles of heating/cooling and layering/mixing, lake currents, categories and models of waves, models in action, and much more. A background in basic calculus and environmental physics is presumed in this scrutiny of how multiple factors fro glaciers, wind, and weather to human public policy and polition have and continue to influence Lake Michigan. A superb resource for college libraries and Great Lakes Region environmental studies shelves.

George Hilton has written another classic transportation book. In his usual fashion he has taken a subject, divided into logical sections and done scholarly research. While he gets deep into the subject, he keeps his eye on "the big picture". In addition it has good pictures, great maps, and a sense of humor. Also it would be wise to have a dictionary at hand because of some of the obscure words he uses. I think this was a work of love as he rode some these boats when he was a child. Great job, George!