Michigan Books

This book gives an inspirational and practical account of the history and philosophy of the Changing Lives Through Literature program, a nationally recognized alternative sentenciing program started in Massachusetts. It offers strategies for teaching, detailed lesson plans, and a clear discussion about how to start a program in your area. A must read for anyone interested in using good books to help change lives.

Radcliffe Squires is chiefly known as a literary critic, his most noted work "The Major Themes of Robert Frost". I have no clue why, since his poetry is far better than his critical work and has the understated intensity of a Hart Crane or Kenneth Patchen, only in a more classical, structured style; "Fingers of Hermes" is a stunning work packed with lyrical and free form gems. "Summer Storms", the the fifth poem in this powerhouse mythological/tribute collection, has to be among the best poems I've ever read: "granite has a face of mere memory/and so insanely pure/is the memory that at times the world seems to humor it/these storms repent as slowly as ideas/blue starfish may appear in clouds, and saffron lines of light.." This and his other collection, "The Light Under Islands", are seemingly totally neglected and deserve attention.

In Mildred Walker's Fireweed she examines one young woman's life in a small town. The life of her young heroine is told so matter a factly yet it is so powerful.

The young girl has dreams of moving to a big city, becoming famous, important and independent of her current life. Ultimately her life becomes all the things she is determined it will not be; burdened with marriage, children and financial concerns in her own hometown.

Fireweed transports the reader so completely into anothers life yet causes them to reflect on their own life, the decisions they have made and where those decisions have taken them.

The collaborative effort of Michael J. Chiarappa (Associate Professor of History and Environmental Studies, Western Michigan University) and Kristin M. Szylvian (Associate Professor of History, Western Michigan University), Fish For All is a seminal and scholarly study of the environmental history of the Great Lakes freshwater fisheries. Fish For All reveals how tradition, cultural heritage, economic livelihood, scientific background, and more, have affected the carefully dispensed allocations of these resources in the Great Lakes region. Stressing the importance of building coalition over common concerns such as water pollution, habitat degradation, invasion of exotic species and more, Fish For All is an extensive, varied, and an intrinsically interesting collection of testimonials that combine for a sweeping, comprehensive, and very highly recommended regional environmental history of Great Lakes fish and fisheries.

The author obviously has spent MANY hours researching and checking the information supplied in Fish Michigan 100 Great Lakes Hot Spots. I have fished many of the mentioned areas on the east side of the state and he is right on the money. This book ought to be issued with a Michigan fishing license!

Not only is this book pocket-sized, but the pages are water-resistant also. This field guide classifies fish based on looks (salmon, catfish, minnow, etc.) and includes a silouette of the family, so you can quickly see if your fish in-hand has 2 adipose fins, a spikey dorsal fin, etc. The illustration of the fish along with look-alikes is on one page, with a description, key features, location, and interesting facts on the opposite page.

My only negative is that the text doesn't indicate if the species is native or introduced. It does for some, but not all. I find it interesting that quite a few game fish have been introduced into the fishery, and it's neat to know which species those are. Particularly if it was a long time ago, to the point where even knowledgable anglers aren't sure if they are native or not.

Eric Sharp's Fishing Michigan is one of the most enjoyable books I've read in some time. Besides giving great advice on fishing for a variety of species, Sharp masterfully captures the essence of fishing, and its allure for all ages. He obviously loves the sport in all its iterations, and his life-long pursuit of it fills this volume with uncommon widsom. If you enjoy books on fishing, this one is a keeper. I'm sure I'll read it again.

This is a wonderful former dissertation that became a good book, especially important now as we witness the ruin of the US auto industry, with the full complicity of its inmates. Notably, the last people to jump the sinking ship will be the UAW leadership, not the Ford or GM bosses. The UAW bosses need to preserve their pensions, while the Big Auto bosses know they are not in business to make cars, but money. How US auto came to its zombie like state now is, of course, rooted in its past, and Meyer does a fine job getting us in at the start. From Taylor, who sought to strip the mind of the worker on the job and to replace that mind with the mind of the boss, to the Christian benevolent societies that sought to Improve the Foreigners by destroying their culture---and the carrots and sticks that made that possible---all of that is here in the text. And the finger story is worth the price of admission alone.

Outstanding book!
So impressed, I contacted the author because my son's school built in 1929 has Flint Faience Tiles in it.
The Author wished he knew of my son's school (Stiles) aka Oakland Steiner -- when he wrote the book
Both the book and the author have a wealth of information on these tiles -- Just facinating..
BUY THIS BOOK
An amazing piece of history & Amazing photos - beautifly done

Simply this is a picture book of Flint's past. My mother is 80 and I got the book for her. She remarked that it was a snap shot of the glory days of Flint. Note, after 1960 life gets a lot harder in Flint for everybody. The race riots of the 1960s hits Flint hard. Now Flint is rated as one of the top ten worst cities in the USA.

This book captures Flint in the prime of its life. The pictures are in very good condition. The captions of the pictures give a short write of of what item, event, or building is mentioned in the picture. The dates on the pictures are well researched.

This is a good picture book and is a fair value for the money.