Michigan Books

Lon Emerick has captured the heart and soul of Michigan's Upper Peninsula--its extraordinary beauty, its people, its history--writing about both enchantment and eccentricities. The book is organized by seasons; you may find a new way of looking at winter! If you've ever been to Michigan--or thought you'd like to--this is the book for you.

My family moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan just before my 12th birthday. Since moving to Texas 5 years ago I have a deeper appreciation for the U.P. I miss the rugged land, the deep woods, and all the waves and waterfalls where I had so many adventures growing up. Reading Lon's book brings back a lot of rich memories for me. If you love the land or are curious about the U.P. I highly recommend this book. Lon uses a lot of rich language to describe what it is like living in the Upper Peninsula. He mixes his own personal feelings, enjoyments, and reflections about the U.P. with a touch of historical facts. The blending of these two creates a rich expression of life in the Upper Peninsula. He also has a good recipe for pasties in it which I tried while living in Texas to have a taste of home. To my surprise my first attempt at making a pasty turned out really good.

If you just want to sit down and enjoy an easy, fun book to read, get this book. You can sit down at one reading and finish it, or pick it up and put it down a number of times and enjoy it.

The individuals who tell the stories are people who have lived Michigan football.

While the real Wolverine fan will love it, all college football fans will enjoy it.

These are the stories that were never in the newspaper..some things players or coaches didn't even know! The reader feels like he/she is sitting around with 50 Michigan football players and coaches listening to one story after another.. with the next story funnier or more "secret" than the last. The reader feels like they're reading the secret diaries or journals of people in Michigan football they've only seen on the field or on TV, or read about. Now each one is telling me something that no one else knew.

Written by Ron Kramer with newspaper writer Dan Ewald, and comfortably narrated in third person, That's Just Kramer! From Michigan Legend to Lombardi's "12th Man" is the biography of talented athlete Ron Kramer, from his days dominating football, basketball, and track in the University of Michigan, to his time to playing as one of the Green Bay Packers, to choosing his family over his professional career by switching teams and returning home to Detroit, and more. Black-and-white photographs illustrate this down-to-earth chronicle of Kramer's life, career, and passions. An enthralling biography especially recommended for football fans.

I remember reading the following quote in Sport magazine during the late 1950's:

"In 1957 two Michigan exports splashed across the American scene both accompanied by terrific fanfare. One was an automobile called the Edsel. The other was a tank named Ronald John Kramer."

Dan Ewald , who has written books about such Michigan notables as George Kell, Sparky Anderson, and Bo Schembechler has provided us with an excellent account on the life of Ron Kramer who starred for the Michigan Wolverines, Green Bay Packers, and the Detroit Lions. Kramer credits his family for instilling in him the discipline necessary for his success at Michigan, the college he chose to attend so his parents could see him play. For their inept play in 1956 the Green Bay Packers received a bonus pick in the 1957 draft as the rules then allowed. That choice went for Notre Dame's Paul Hornung. With the first choice in the regular round the Packers chose Michigan's Ron Kramer. A broken leg in his rookie season threatened his career, but the arrival of Coach Vince Lombardi in 1959 revitalized his career as it did for several others on the team. Lombardi saw Kramer as an ideal tight end, his "12th man on the field", because Kramer could both catch passes and block for others. This was a position held by Packer veteran Gary Knafelc who lacked the size and quickness of Kramer. This was a team going nowhere under previous coaches Lisle Blackbourn and Ray "Scooter" McLean yet possessed a number of future Hall of Famers. The differences between them and Lombardi was that Lombardi stressed discipline and preparation. Following the 1964 season Kramer requested a trade to the Detroit Lions so he could be closer to home where he felt he was needed due to family matters. It was either that or retire. Had he remained in Green Bay he would have ended up on five championship teams instead of two and most likely cemented his place in football's Hall of Fame. However, family came before football as Lombardi himself stressed, and the trade was made. The situation on the Lions under coach Harry Gilmer compared with the Packers was significant. The book also deals with his family life after football and Kramer's emphasis on the importance on friendship in one's life. I did find one error in the book. The author twice refers to Fordham's Seven "Rocks" of Granite when it should be Seven Blocks of Granite. There have been numerous books written on former Green Bay Packer players and I'm glad to see one on Green Bay's other star player named Kramer, Ron Kramer. Football fan or not, you should enjoy it.

I enjoyed this book extremely, all the way through, which is unusual nowadays. This is a real book, by an author who really cares about his subject. So many books nowadays are dashed off any old which way, but this one is obviously a labor of love--and competence as well. It is well researched, well organized, and well written.

It deals thorougly with its subject, and all the aspects are interesting--how the regiment was raised, how the men were trained and supplied, their service as prison camp guards in Chicago, and finally their service in the front lines in the terrible battles in Virginia in the last year of the War.

The author lets the story tell itself without much editorializing of any kind, but I think it is the most telling account I ever read of how bad management can nullify the best efforts of the people in the front lines, and how things sort themselves out over time. Somehow, after a few months, and after many of the original enlistees had been killed or captured, the incompetent officers went on to other jobs, the casualties went way down, and the 1st Michigan Sharpshooters had the honor of being the first to raise their flag over Petersburg.

The author has provided a well written and carefully researched narrative about a heretofore forgotten unit from Michigan. Herek consulted a wide variety of original manuscripts, letters, and diaries that add much to our understanding of the unit from a variety of perspectives.

This regiment was unusual in that it contained a single company consisting of Native Americans, many of whom could hardly speak English. Herek explores the prevailing prejudice in a state that was part of the frontier only a few decades earlier, and how notions of citizenship evolved over the course of the war.

I also highly recommend this book to those who are searching for a soldier's eye view of the Civil War. The book is full of details about regimental organization, recruitment strategies, rivalries between officers seeking to recruit companies, daily routines, food, and a host of other minutae.

Finally, the book sheds light on prison conditions in the North, since the 1st Michigan SS were stationed in Chicago doing prison guard duty for much of 1863. There is also a great chapter on the unit's confrontation with rebel John H. Morgan's cavalry raid into Indiana.

My only complaint is that the author should have provided more information in the regimental roster that appears at the end of the book. As it stands, the book is not of much help to those seeking to do statistical analysis or geneological research. For the average reader, though, this is only of passing concern.

This is not a book for just WWII buffs. I guarantee that anyone who appreciates fascinating and well-written non-fiction with an original angle will love They Can't Take That Away From Me. What sold me was the unique and artistic style employed in this POW memoir; it brought a fresh perspective to Ralph Rentz's struggle, triumph and the invincibility of his nightmare.

They Can't Take That Away From Me truly is an odyssey of one, rather atypical, American POW. However, it is more than just a "Sentimental Journey". This memoir is unlike any other WWII story, in that it reaches beyond the prosaic collage of nostalgic gore and glory and invites the reader to hear the song inside the bruised head of a musician who finds himself without his band, his saxophone and clarinet, without his freedom and even his own sanity, but never without his music. It is a tough tale, but it is softened with a lyrical literary style that makes it flow like the Pacific. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading about music, adventure and inimitable tragedy.

I am a Grand Rapids native and a lifelong student of history. Gordon Olson is a well-respected city historian and I thought he and his co-editors have done a marvelous job assembling a thorough and well-balanced perspective of growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

It's sometimes awkward for a native to read less than glowing reviews from the perspective of certain groups or individuals. Clearly the fairly homogenous ethnic make up of the city (in fact much of the West Michigan area) makes it easier to overlook the challenges that minorities have felt through the years, and I certainly appreciated the pain expressed by a few of the contributors.

Still, Grand Rapids is a terrific place to grow up. It's large enough to offer plenty of opportunity, and yet small enough to feel like home. It's thought-provoking to get a sense for some of GR's unique character and cultural fabric already being reflected in its citizens more than 150 years ago.

The hard-working, thrifty, community-oriented stock best represented by the city's favorite son, former President Gerald R. Ford, comes through loud and clear. Thanks are owed to the research team that vetted the work that went into this must read for anyone who wants to truly understand what makes Grand Rapids what it is today.

I live in the Grand Rapids area, plus I am a high school English teacher, so my natural interest spurred the purchase of this book. At first, when I started reading, I chose stories by authors whose names I recognized. Then I realized that the stories were presented in chronological order, so I started from the beginning. No matter what order is chosen, every story is wonderful. They are all very different in style and feeling, but a sense of place shines through, as well as a sophistication that belies Grand Rapids' humble demeanor. These stories are universal, engaging and fun. I have read hundreds of short stories, and this collection truly stands out.

White is an perceptive reader of poetry and theological reflections who has his own idiosyncratic but highly accesible style; all at the service of making George Herbert's poetry shine more brightly for others...not at all to stand in the spotlight himself. The "self-consuming artifacts" that Herbert constructs to effectively communicate religious truth and human uncertainty are well represented by White's own writing style, a steady candleflame that slowly and inobtrusively fades into the brighter dawn of Herbert's meditations rising into the reader's consciousness. I would recommend this book equally strongly for someone who has never heard of Herbert, or for a long-time lover of his poems and essays. (2007 note - but you'll have to look around for a used copy now, sad to say!)

White is an perceptive reader of poetry and theological reflections who has his own idiosyncratic but highly accesible style; all at the service of making George Herbert's poetry shine more brightly for others...not at all to stand in the spotlight himself. The "self-consuming artifacts" that Herbert constructs to effectively communicate religious truth and human uncertainty are well represented by White's own writing style, a steady candleflame that slowly and inobtrusively fades into the brighter dawn of Herbert's meditations rising into the reader's consciousness. I would recommend this book equally strongly for someone who has never heard of Herbert, or for a long-time lover of his poems and essays.

Rybicki is a god. There is nothing else to say. His poems are modern, so be prepared - he does things with language that are beautiful and spectacualar and terrifying and enthralling. If you have been taught by this man, they you know that there are no words. Except, perhaps, that the two-headed monster has a lot to teach you. Rybicki is one head. For the other head, go find Pete Markus' books. Buy these together, read, add tears, stir.

There is no real way to review this book without sounding like a fanatic, or to tell you to buy it without making you feel ashamed at not having done so yet. It cuts my breath short to think of ever living without having read this book, so great is the energy I pull from the words. I carry this book with me on long trips, from fear that I might die without having Rybicki's words nearby.

This book is totally amazing i got it to study up on some of the more popular historical temperaments before i started to tune them and expirement with them on some pieces i am playing and it astounded me on several occasions. His explanations are clear and easy to understand and the history he provides is very pertinent and valuable. If any of you out there have this book and are looking to sell I'd like another copy so send me an email at Ira_parrot@yahoo.com

I saw this book few times, I like the flowing on each character of ear training. But this is a old book, so it was not easy to fund.

Today, local television consists of syndicated shows and news coverage, but this wasn't always the case. Local stations used to have to devise their own programming, and the Detroit area was blessed with an army of talented folks who entertained, educated, and enlightened their viewers. This terrific book contains so many in-depth details of my formative TV-watching years that a slew of happy, incredible memories came rushing back while I was reading it. This wave of nostalgia was balanced by my gratitude that this era has been documented so thoroughly.

I should note that this is not a "dry" historical study. It's every bit as lively and entertaining as the programs (and people) it covers. I don't know if this book will mean much to those of you who don't fall within its target audience, but for someone like myself, who watched and loved Lawson Deming (Sir Ghastly Graves), Soupy Sales, Ron Sweed (The Ghoul), Bill Kennedy, Bob McNea (Bozo, Oopsy), and all the rest, this is a must-have addition to your library. This is a wonderful tribute to what was truly a golden age in local television.

Reading this book was a joy while reflecting on shows of the past. Brought back memories of Detroit icons that I had long forgotten about.....Once I started reading the book, I could not put it down...Excellent!