Michigan Books

"Respite for Teachers" is wise, humane, restorative, engaging, and a delight to read. The authors share with us their years of varied experiences as teachers, writers, and artists; this book is informed by, and influenced by, their own wide reading and deep reflection on the lives of teachers and on the meanings of teaching lives. It is also clearly influenced by the authors' having lived and taught in various locales and cultures. This small, well-written, very accessible book consists of a unique blend of thoughtful essays (e.g., "Difficult Students"), relevant poetry, wry "Pillow Book"-style lists (e.g., "Embarrassing Things," Things to Wonder At"), and evocative drawings. The book has a beautiful cover and an open, inviting layout. I highly recommend it.

As a teacher, I found this book to be reassuring. I could relate to the same worries and concerns the writers had with the relationships they had with students, colleagues and people in the community. It was written in a way that was easy to read and informative, with an awareness and insight that comes from years of research and experience in the field of language acquisition. Although written for teachers, it is easily accessible for anyone to read. You can pick and choose what chapter to read depending on how you're feeling -- something like `chicken soup' for the teacher's soul.

This book does for the subject of southern reform what J. Mills Thornton's Politics and Power in a Slave Society did for southern politics. We simply have to reevaluate out traditional approach to antebellum southern culture after this book. Absolutely not for general readers, who do not like such detail and a 57.50 (!) price tag, but essential for South historians.

Historians of antebellum reform have tended to divide their subject along sectional lines, with northern reform being considered normative. Antebellum reform in the North has been difficult enough to understand, so it should be no surprise that few scholars have dared to reconcile the reform impulse in the North and South. Even admitting that the reform impulse existed in the South has been a somewhat recent development in the historiography (for examples, see Anne Loveland's Southern Evangelicals and the Social Order, Stanley Harrold's Abolitionists and the South, and Janet Cornelius Duitsman's Slave Missions and the Black Church in the Antebellum South). Quist, however, tackles the problem head-on by comparing reform in two counties, one in Alabama and one in Michigan. That he finds significant differences should surprise no one. That he also finds striking similarities, however, may require us to do some rethinking about reform in the antebellum South. Just as in the North, he sees reform in the South as "compatible with the demands of market behavior." His study is truly pathbreaking in that it opens up new territory and problems to explore. Because of Quist, any comprehensive account of antebellum reform will need to incorporate the Southern reform experience. I highly recommend this work to students of antebellum reform.

LeBeau presents how to broaden perspective on the place of Indians in Michigan history. The four lessons centered on eroding stereotypes, primary historical figures, treaties, and maps as related to historical realties have implications on Native Americans in all regions and even this group as a whole in the U. S. LeBeau's aim is not to overthrow the decades of Native American studies, but rather to amplify and complement these for a more refined understanding of the history of Native Americans and its interrelation with American history. The book has the design of a classroom/student workbook; which it is meant to be. LeBeau brings into the picture of Native American studies different sorts of resources, with innovative and enlightening ways to question and examine these. With a Native American heritage, LeBeau is a former director of the American Indian Studies Program at Michigan State U. and is still active in academia and writing. The workbook-like book with a CD is suitable for high school through college courses.

Illustrated with color photographs, Rethinking Michigan Indian History is a resource especially intended for Michigan classroom teachers, as it especially explores the role that the Chippewa, Ottawa, Pottawatomie, and the twelve federally recognized tribes of Michigan played in state history. Divided into four main lessons, "Defining Our Terms and Exploring Stereotypes", "Challenging the 'Great Man' Theory of History", "Indian Treaties and the U.S. Constitution", and "How Historical Maps Influence Thinking about Michigan's Indians", Rethinking Michigan Indian History advocates change in conventional thinking and teaching practices in a non-confrontational manner. An accompanying CD-ROM holds printable PDF file versions of the graphic resources, handouts, and colorful maps on the copy-ready pages. Very highly recommended.

Readers of this book are drawn to a poetically rich narrative of a young boy's personal friendships and emotional maturation. Surreptitiously, a valuable history lesson is being absorbed about a culturally profound period in Wisconsin's past. River's Must Run brilliantly straddles the divide between a documentary and prose.

Dana Gretz, English Instructor Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College

A positively delightful story and one with considerable `food for thought.' While the principal confrontations are between loggers and dam builders, Dr. Kending gives us valid insight into the co-mingling of other groups--a bright young boy faces, and eventually joins, the adult world; non-Catholics share common problems and experiences with their Catholic neighbors, white families glimpse the culture of Ojibwa people and vice versa; townspeople meet their country dwelling friends; unlettered and formal school educated learn mutual respect; first generation immigrants assimilate into the new world--to name some examples. People of various ages and backgrounds will find things in Rivers Must Run to relate to. If you had the opportunity to roam the woods someplace in your own youth you can thrill to Ahmeek's summer experiences and even city youngsters will delight in this young boy's adventures complete with having real American Indian playmates. If you're old enough to remember back `before electricity' or `before motorcars' or when vast regions were not served by railroads you can relate to this tale which covers the advent of such life-changing technologies. There's even something for the scientist in each of us with veiled but authentic references to such things as sound Doppler, the difference between the speed of light and that of sound and the three-phase nature of alternating current power. To quote myself, "a positively delightful story which leads me to plead, "C'mon Paul Kending, when are we going to get another like Rivers Must Run?"

Do you know need a reason to buy this book? I can give you an excellent one -- it's called the Table of Contents. It lists 700 pages worth of Robin Hood ballads, plays and more. It has the earliest ballads and plays where Robin is merely a yeoman, the first play that casts him as the Earl of Huntington, and later ballads that give the "origins" of Little John, Maid Marian and Will Scarlet. Also, there's an introductory article on the history of the legend and complete introductions and notes to all the ballads and plays. The notes and introductions are by Stephen Knight and Thomas Ohlgren, two top Robin Hood scholars. If you want to read the original tales of the outlaw, or if you are teach a course in Robin Hood, this book is an excellent buy. Just treat it with care. I notice my cover is fraying somewhat.

Before my professor pointed it out I hadn't really given much thought to where my knowledge of, and love for, the Robin Hood tales came from. Once I began to give it some thought, I realized it wasn't from books at all, it was from the Errol Flinn and Disney movies (such poor literary sources!). We all seem to know one or two Robin Hood tales, but Robin Hood is a much more complex character than those few tales would show.
I was also suprised to learn that no Robin Hood tales are included in the major anthology of English literature (Norton's), which seems odd to me, since the tales are classic English literature.
This collection of Robin Hood material is comprehensive, many stories I had never heard are here, and if you are looking to really learn about the literary sources for Robin Hood this is great (that is the publisher's purpose). This is not a children's storybook however. Much of the language is in the older forms of English, and even as an adult I sometimes wrestled with the language to understand it.
All that to say, that as a Robin Hood fan, I am thrilled with this book.

This is a great little book with many photos and facts about Romeo, MI, the town I've lived in for over 20 years. There were so many interesting facts and information I never was aware of! It's been fun to read this book and see photos from so many years ago.

Having most of my relatives still in Romeo,Mich. I found this book most enjoyable,lighthearted,and filled with facts I never knew about this quaint little town.It has a rich musical history with performances by many well known music groups,and is a virtual throwback to a more peaceful,simple time.I highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever lived and/or visited this charming village.Kudos to David McLaughlin! A+!

Sarajevo: A Biography is the history of a proud city that persevered under terrible strife. Haven of learning in the Ottoman era; site of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, causing World War I; host to the Winter Olympics in 1984; multicultural center under Tito; and by 1992 subject to the longest urban siege of the modern era, Sarajevo's story is a complex and tumultuous one. Sarajevo: A Biography spares no detail in Sarajevo's history, up to and including the aftermath of the 1992-5 siege and the citizens' efforts to rebuild and preserve a valued way of life. Highly recommended especially for world history and library reference shelves.

Dr. Robert Donia has written the best book in any language on the recent history of Sarajevo-- one of the most complex, fascinating, and misunderstood cities in the world. Dr. Donia, who has given extensive testimony as an expert consultant to the Hague Tribunal on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, has known Sarajevo intimately since the 1970s, and understands the richness, and the sometimes tragic complexity of its multi-cultural heritage. (Donia's first book, on Bosnia's Muslims under Austro-Hungarian rule, remains the defintive work on the subject.)

"Sarajevo: a Biography" is informed by a profound historical understanding and a broad human sympathy. It is mercifully free from ethno-religious bias or political partisanship, although, precisely for that reason, it will no doubt be attacked by bigots and and chauvinists of several persuasions.

For anyone hoping to undersand the tragedy of Bosnia in the 1990s, this is the second book to read. The first is "Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Tradition Betrayed", co-authored by Donia and his Ph.D. thesis advisor, Professor John Fine of the University of Michigan. (John Fine's books are also essential to an understanding of the region's history.) If Richard Holbrook had read Donia and Fine before negotiating at Dayton, Bosnia might be in much better shape today than it is.

Prof. William Hunt, Department of History, St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York 13617

This is a kid- and parent-friendly book that will make elementary science more fun for everyone.
Science is Golden is a fun introduction to scientific thinking and problem solving. If you like children, science, logic, problem-solving, sledding, throwing rocks or the TV remote, this book is for you! Science is Golden will also help you design a killer science project with your kids.
This book describes the philosophy of science applied to children's science experiments. Scientists have a formal approach to problem-solving though the scientific method. Science is Golden describes how to implement this powerful mode of thinking to solve experimental problems that arise from children's questions about science. In many ways, teaching children science through the scientific method is an easier and more powerful approach than teaching many disembodied scientific factoids--the current, unfortunate school model.

What is your answer when your kids keep asking you "Why" this and "Why" that? Curiosity is a great gift we have (especially kids!), and this book is a wonderful guide in how to feed that curiosity. The "problem-solving approach to science" this author describes and uses to answer kid's questions, from how many germs can be found on coins to how a remote control works, is not only a joy to read about, but also teaches kids AND parents how to investigate any question in a systematic and creative way. I highly recommend this book to all parents regardless of their background in science -- there is something in here to learn whether you are a kid, a college student (like myself), a Ph.D.-level research scientist, or several years removed from your last science course. Keep the "Why"s coming and learn with your kids!

The sweetest poem in the book is "The Absent Father." Hew Ainslie describes how he misses his wife and children after he came to America and they were still in Scotland, planning to join him later.

His poems are written in the Scottish dialect.

As a decendant of Hew Ainslie be it known that he is entombed at Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville,Ky and that the poem Ingleside is engraved on his tombstone. I have found that the poetry of my Great-great Grandfather written in Scottish brouge to be very inspiring.

As a Chinese American, I have found this book very interesting to read and very helpful to use. Culture is the most difficult thing to be truly understood unless you are into it. Movies are one of the best ways to learn about a new culture because they bring people into that culture. This book "Seeing the Big Picture" by Summerfield and Lee provides the reader with movies that are representative to the study cultures. Rich background infomation is given and strategies to promote the understanding are introduced, to name just a few features of this book. I used this book at several teacher training/train-the-trainer workshops on munticultural education (provided by U of I Extension) and the participants were facinated! I highly recommend this book to educators for their efforts in teaching cultural understanding in the USA or simply in learning about different cultures themselves!

I love this book! Film is such a great way to teach adults and older youth about the cultural differences among us. Summerfield and Lee have given us the tools to easily teach others about specific cultural differences. Not only do they suggest popular films that we can use and how to use them, but they also give us the historical context of the specific cultural group and several exercises to help students go deeper in their understanding and appreciation of differences. Anybody who picks up this book will find themselves drawn into the wonderful insights that are inside.