Midwest Book Review on Mikel Classen’s True Tales: The Forgotten History of the U.P.

Review by Carolyn WIlhelm for MBR

Pioneer days conjure up romantic, sentimental ideas of simple living and being close to nature. However, the truth also included lawless, rugged, difficult times. Native Americans and those from Europe mined, traveled, worked, logged, and sailed Lake Superior’s frontier wilderness amid uncivilized criminals, kidnappers, and slavers. Laws were few, enforcement was scarce, violent events were often, and shipwrecks were many. Wonderful life-saving deeds of kindness and compassion are also recorded on these pages as opportunities to be a hero were many.

Consider mining. Yes, rarely paired with pioneers such as Laura Ingalls Wilder, yet it is part of history at the same time. And Lake Superior! So few people understand how cold it is year-round (about 40 degrees) or how many shipwrecks (about 350) have taken place in the deepest waters of the Great Lakes. Before modern mariner tools, sailors had a strenuous, grueling life when pirates were plundering boats. Surviving crashes in winter required ingenuity and persistence unless a body became an icicle. And slavers trafficked women to stockades, as detailed in the book.

Classen does history an excellent service by revealing the truth. Sometimes we think humanity has advanced little. An attitude quickly challenged in these pages. Readers will feel gratitude for all they have today after finishing these tales.


True Tales: The Forgotten History of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
Mikel B. Classen
Modern History Press
https://www.modernhistorypress.com
B09WJMKV12, $5.95 Kindle
9781615996353, $29.95 HC, $18.95 PB, 162 pp.

Carolyn Wilhelm, Reviewer
Wise Owl Factory LLC

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The Last Huck [PB]

SKU 978-1-61599-805-0
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A Novel
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Product Details
UPC: 978-1-61599-805-0
Brand: Modern History Press
Binding: Paperback
Audiobook: Audible, iTunes
Edition: 1st
Author: J.D. Austin
Pages: 202
Publication Date: 04/01/2023

"The Last Huck stands out as one of the most impressive debut novels of this decade." --Joseph D. Haske, author of North Dixie Highway

Jakob, Niklas and Peter Kinnunen grew up playing together on their family's berry farm on the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan's U.P. The three of them inherit the land when their beloved uncle passes away, but Jakob goes to prison and Peter, who goes broke during the 2008 financial crash, calls Niklas and suggests they sell the land for fast cash. Niklas fights back against Peter, but Peter convinces Niklas to take a trip up north, from their homes in Milwaukee, to visit the place and get closure. Haunted by their childhoods and the absence of their beloved Jakob, they spend the weekend drinking, fighting, reminiscing and trying to figure out whether or not to sell. Woven together with moments going back four generations, The Last Huck is the saga of a family ravaged by time and modernity, yet holding on to one another for dear life.

"In his first novel, J.D. Austin vividly captures the painful conflicts among the young men as they spend one last weekend in a place that were the scenes of their happiest childhood memories." --Jon C. Stott, author, Summers at the Lake: Upper Michigan Moments and Memories

"We are a large country with many regional literatures. I find the analogy between the 19th-century regional novel and J.D. Austin's The Last Huck provocative and literate." -Donald M. Hassler, Professor Emeritus of English, Kent State University

"The adventure that ensues not only immediately draws the reader in, but does so in a fashion that makes it virtually impossible to put the book down. It is always a joy for seasoned sojourners to witness young talent, such as J. D. Austin, blossom and flourish as we pass through this life." --Michael Carrier (MA NYU), author, Jack Handler Murder Mysteries / Hardboiled Thrillers

"The Last Huck stands out as one of the most impressive debut novels of this decade. The characters, sardonic, clever, and intensely authentic, efficaciously propel Austin's masterful narrative through the backdrop of Michigan's Upper Peninsula like skate blades cutting Lake Superior ice in late winter. With this splendid, unforgettable, first effort, J.D. Austin proves himself a name to watch out for in American letters." --Joseph D. Haske, author of North Dixie Highway

J.D. AUSTIN has resided in the Keweenaw since 2019. He has worked as a kayak guide, ski technician and stage carpenter, among other vocations. Austin's fiction has appeared in The Incandescent Review and U.P. Reader Vol. 7. The Last Huck is his first novel.

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