Michigan Books

Fabulous array of photos however this book should have been edited by one who was a little more aware of Detroit Masonic History. I found a number of errorsin the text portions.

Eighty years ago, the Freemasons of Detroit had a vision. They dreamed big and they built bigger, erecting the largest Masonic building in the world. Today, the Masons of Detroit seem to have lost their vision, or at least their ability to afford it. The Shriners and the Scottish Rite have both fled to the suburbs, and this magnificent building is in serious danger. A few individual lodges survive there.

Thankfully, the authors of this little volume have captured it on film before it is gone forever. The sheer scope of this 1000+ room building is incredible, and they have packed an enormous amount of history and detail into a brief telling of its glorious past.

If you are a Mason, it is worth trying to visit the Detroit Masonic Center soon. Unless a developer with as much vision as the Freemasons who first built it come to its rescue, it is in serious danger.

A tiny wish for some color shots of the more stunning rooms can be satisfied by hunting the Center's website.

I have glanced over Dales book and it is very informative. I have not yet read all of it, but I am going to now. I was a close friend to Dale and this book, and his others, is now going to become more valueable to me now. Sadly, Dale passed away this fall and it was a very sad time for me. I miss him very much, but every time I look at this book, it reminds me of what he liked to do and I am happy that he was able to see the day, when his hobby came into public view.

I have not yet read Dale's book, but would like to mention to anyone interested that Dale passed away this Fall. I have known Dale as a friend and a teacher since 1972. I will miss his style and humor. Dale was a marvelous teacher and talented artist. He will be sadly missed by many.

Normally I am NOT someone who reads about cemeteries! Therefore I was very pleasantly surprised that this book was so
interesting and well written. It kept my full (undivided) attention
throughout the entire book.

The style of writing used by Ms Hershenzon about the life and history of the persons buried at Woodmere provides an excellent doorway to the activities that lead up to our present time.

This book is entertaining enough to be enjoyable and yet factual enough to be used as a reference book.

I am hoping this author writes another book. I will make sure to keep my eyes open for her name.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Garie Thomas-Bass

The author has taken a lot of time to research the history of this cemetery. Many pictures. Anyone who enjoys visiting cemeteries or has ever lived in Detroit will find this an interesting read.

I enjoyed this written journal by a schoolteacher who spent the winter isolated on the island of Isle Royale, because it is the history of my mother and her family. They were commercial fisherman and spent the winters on Isle Royale, with only a ham radio for communication. It gives a very true picture of the hardships they endured, the amusements they created to combat boredome, and the personalities of the Johnson family

An excellent book giving an insight of how one person experienced the isolated life of Isle Royale during one winter of 1932-33. This is a fast-reading book which is not easy to set down. Anyone who has visited the beautiful island of Isle Royale National Park should find this diary interesting and captivating. Book's epilogue and editorial notes by author's son add special insight.

I read a poem once by Louise Gluck, entitled "Gretel in Darkness." I thought it was a beautiful reflection on the life of Gretel after her childhood trauma. I looked further for poetry that views the lives of our favorite fairy tale characters AFTER "....and they lived Happily Ever After," and I found this book in my college library. It is a WONDERFUL collection of poems that show the stark reality of what the world of these characters might have been like. This book is a beautiful and diverse collection of fairy tale literature.

Mieder has gathered a large range of 20th century poetry that uses the themes from popular fairy tales. Many of the poems are obscure and would be nearly impossible to find while others are standard in the field, such as Anne Sexton, Sara Henderson Hay, and even Roald Dahl. The fairy tales explored are Hansel and Gretel, Snow White, Snow White and Rose Red, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty (which has the most), The Frog Prince, Rapunzel, and Rumpelstiltskin. My only regret is that Beauty and the Beast is not included in the collection. Still, this is an excellent collection of poetry.

Dispersing The Ghetto: The Relocation Of Jewish Immigrants Across America by Jack Glazier (Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anthropology at Oberlin College) is the intimate and compressive history of the massive immigration of eastern European Jews to American coastal cities in the years prior to World War I Readers will follow the increasingly hostile and restrictive discriminations of Jews in their native homeland, through the depressive and seemingly trite struggles for control taken by German-American Jews in America to exploit their co-religionists' naiveté regarding their new homes as their departure from the ghettos of major American portal cities made room for more immigrants, presenting a greater threat to more prosperous, financially secure, preexisting communities of the Jewish middle and upper classes. Dispersing The Ghetto is an informed and scholarly depiction of the Jewish struggle with one-another in times already hard for all, and is very strongly recommended to students of American Urban History, and of Judaic Studies in particular.

In 1901, American Jews with German backgrounds living in East coast U.S. cities established an Industrial Removal Office (IRO). They did this to encourage and to help other German-American Jews locate to other places throughout America not only to better their lives and prospects by getting them out of the crowded, crime-ridden ghettos, but also to separate them from the large numbers of Russian Jews arriving in the ghettos at the time. A primary motivation for the IRO was to try to head off anti-Semitism which could mount against Jews crowded into the ghettos. Its founders were concerned that the undesirable social conditions and related social problems of the ghettos would become magnified by the influx of so many Russian Jews, leading to both intensified anti-Semitism and tighter U.S. immigration policies which would have adverse consequences on all Jews in America as well as Eastern Europe. Despite its good intentions and practical use, the IRO was inevitably controversial. It had some resemblance to a bureaucratic, and even a totalitarian, organization to control segments of a population; and even in the most benign view, it was founded by and reserved for a subgroup of a religious minority whose place and activities in Western culture had long been subject to special scrutiny and oftentimes hostility. It inevitably raised suspicions about Jewish intentions and assimilation among the public, and questions about its propriety and purposes within the German Jewish community. Glazier, Chair of the Dept. of Anthropology at Oberlin College who also has a broad background in Jewish studies, relates the work and brief history of the Industrial Relocation Office, including its controversial place within the community it was meant to serve, with sociological matter and statistics, documents, news articles, and oral history.

It is great to read a book that gives a view into such a marginalized population. The insight Braman brings through his presentation of these real people with complex problems is very powerful.

I'd read Braman's other work in books edited by Marc Mauer and Jeremy Travis. This is much more in depth, but presents the same basic arguments. Instead of the tired poltical arguments about the criminal justice system, it tells the stories of actual families. The stories are moving and the families are presented "warts and all." The arguement of the book is that, by undermining family formation and community cohesion, mass imprisonment is actually exacerbating social disorder.

The criminals here are real criminals, not liberal fairy tale versions: They kill people, sell drugs, and steal things. They then get sent to prison while their families and communities pick up the tab.

What makes this book stand out from the crowd of other books on the criminal justice system are the stories of the criminal offenders and their families. What you come to realize is that the criminals are getting off lightly while their families - especially their kids - struggle to survive. It doesn't tie the stories up in a pretty bow. Instead it shows how hard it is to hold criminal offenders accountable.

I have an ancient copy of this book handed down from my great-great grandmother. My copy is dog-earred and so worn the cover cannot be deciphered, but I've always loved thumbing through to find remedies for various complaints. In addition, Dr. Chase knows when to plant crops, how to care for farm animals, how to make basic household conveniences such as soap, baskets, spinning, weaving, churning butter...you name it, he has it in this book. Some of the remedies for illnesses might seem like they're from the Inquisition, but even simple poultices can be used today with great results. I wouldn't recommend dosing your child with kreosote, but amid the obvious bad advice are gems to be used in today's world. This copy of the book is much easier to read than my over 100 years-old copy, but the language is quaint and the book is an entertaining piece of Americana.

Dr. Chase was a traveling physician who compiled this book of "recipes and information for everybody" including a wide array of information and home remedies for families. At the time it was published, individual receipes to cure a sick horse or sick child were quite expensive. Dr. Chase's book of 800 recipes for health remedies, drinks, livestock cures, etc. was a bargain and a mainstay in households across the continent.

Sections include:
Merchant and Grocer Department
Saloon Department
Medical Department
Tanner,Shoe, & Harness Maker Department
Painter Department
Blacksmith Department
Tinner Department
Gunsmith Department
Jeweler Department
Farrier Department
Cabinet-maker Department
Barber Department
Baker/Cooking Department
Domestic Department
Miscellaneous Department

The information included is wildly varied and fascinating! Dr. Chase even advocates humane treatment of animals (includes illustrations for saving injured horses), instructs young people in how they can be successful, etc. etc. etc.

Just a wonderful book of frontier/19th century wisdom! I have the 38th edition, which was published in 1866.

This little book is packed with great photos and excellent explanatory text. I live in Alaska, but can find many of these Michigan mosses and liverworts in my own area. Apparently, Michigan has bryophytes that are representative of temperate North America as well as other areas of the world.
The text and the beautiful color photographs (one or two on almost every page!) are very helpful. The small line drawings of elves and mosses introduce a playful note, but don't be fooled; this book is authoritative.
The author, Dr. Janice Glime, is a university professor and a bryologist with a lifetime of experience, having published over 100 papers on mosses, liverworts, and their ecology. She is the author of Bryophyte Ecology (available online), and Methods in Bryology (available from Hattori Botanical Laboratory in Japan).
She has a simple and entertaining style that is precise and occasionally technical, suitable for both beginners and experienced botanists. I own several large moss and liverwort floras covering North America and the British Isles and, while they are much more technical (and expensive) than Dr. Glimes' little manual, I always look at her book to see what light she has shed on a particular plant or habitat.
This book is a little jewel and a "must have" if you're into mosses!

This is helpful for the lay person because it groups Bryophites by their habitat, such as on stumps, rocks, forest types, stream banks, etc.

Ellery Schempp was not a troublemaker. He was sixteen years old in 1956, a junior in high school with fine grades and no disciplinary problems. And yet he went to school after the Thanksgiving holiday determined to call attention to himself and to what he saw as unfairness within the school. It worked, and it wound him up in the Supreme Court. _Ellery's Protest: How One Young Man Defied Tradition and Sparked the Battle over School Prayer_ (University of Michigan Press) by Stephen D. Solomon tells the story of how Ellery and his family conscientiously changed public policy, helping define how church and state were to be separated in American public schools. Solomon, who teaches First Amendment law, has not only told the story of the Schempp family and their protest and the legal ins and outs as their case went to different court levels, but also has given an account of church and state conflicts back through European history, and has summarized the challenges currently faced by a society and a Supreme Court that can never have a complete solution to what will always be an ongoing conflict. This is a great book bringing a vast subject into focus as its one particular court case plays out.

The Schempp name is not nearly as well known as that of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the fervent, loud-mouthed (and foul-mouthed) atheist whose similar suit was joined with that of the Schempps. They were not atheists, but Unitarians, who frequently discussed religious matters, especially the idea that government had no business supporting any particular religion or religious idea. The Abington school district instructed teachers that they were to comply with a Pennsylvania state law requiring that every day ten Bible verses be read without comment, and that this was to be followed by the reading of the Lord's Prayer. One morning, when it came time for the verses and prayer one morning, Ellery took out a Koran from his book bag, and began reading silently. He didn't stand for the Lord's Prayer. The homeroom teacher sent him to the principal's office. He wrote the ACLU to ask for help. Solomon describes an intricate process of the case threading its way to the Supreme Court, and the tactics used by the ACLU as well as by the school board and state government. It was not until 1963 that the court, by an eight to one majority that included three of its most conservative members, ruled that the schools as a government agency could not lead prayers.

Solomon's comprehensive account includes descriptions of what happened after the 1963 Supreme Court decision, which was extremely unpopular. The Abington school system itself had a model response: the superintendent explained that teachers should discuss with their students how the Supreme Court had interpreted the Constitution; thereupon Bibles were removed from classrooms and the devotionals stopped. Many other schools made no changes, and some states passed school prayer laws that were in flagrant noncompliance with the federal ruling. There was agreement from some religious bodies; the National Council of Churches registered agreement that public schools should never compel any specific religious practice, and that such teachings should come only from homes and from the churches themselves. Solomon's final chapter has to do with the future of the Schempp decision, and how some who favor school prayer are attempting to find ways to make it happen again. The history of that decision, and the history of church and state issues that led up to it, is given here with clarity and comprehensiveness; anyone interested in issues of church and state will find this book a rich resource.

With Ellery's Protest, Stephen Solomon has written a compelling and thoroughly engaging account of how one Abington family, with the help of the ACLU, made history by convincing the Supreme Court to strike down Bible readings in the public schools in 1962. Solomon not only tells us the story of how the Schempp family's protest within the Abington public schools made it all the way to the highest court in the land, but he also paints a much broader historic landscape. Solomon traces the evolution of religious freedom in the U.S. (so different from Europe's history of bloody intolerance) and shows how the inclusion of the free exercise of religion clause in the First Amendment gave rise to this country's defining belief in the separation of church and state.

The story Solomon tells is riveting, in large part because he takes the time to describe the colorful minor characters that populate this story - people like Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who sued the Baltimore schools and found herself and her son the target of vicious harassment and attack. (O'Hair's lawsuit reached the Supreme Court around the same time as the Schempp case and was considered along with it). Solomon vividly shows how such an historic decision hung on the leanings of one or two Supreme Court Justices, a timely reminder in an era when so many other civil liberties are at stake.