Reviewed by Leslie Anne Smith for Reader Views (02/2025) 5*- A cozy, nostalgic collection of stories about the Upper Peninsula I lead a simple life. I rake and I row, and, when the weather’s bad, I read and I write.- pg. 27 “Summers at the Lake: Upper Michigan Moments and…
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (02/2025) 5*- Laugh Out Loud Fun! Terri Martin’s “Roadkill Justice: Featuring Yooper Woodswoman Nettie Bramble” offers a collection of stories that take readers on a fun romp through the rugged landscape of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The tales are mainly centered around a Yooper…
The Alexandria Code Mikel B. Classen Modern History Press (2023) ISBN: 978-1615997831 Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (02/2025) 5*- Pulse-pounding and engaging “The Alexandria Code,” part of the Isabella Carter Adventure series by Mikel B. Classen, is a thrilling blend of suspense, action, and archaeological intrigue. In this…
Reviewed by Tom Powers, Michigan in Books This slim volume contains a wealth of information on a subject that seems as reluctant to reveal its history as the historical pirates of the Great Lakes who guarded their anonymity. Classen’s research and history of piracy on the Great Lakes begins with…
An Invaluable Exploration of a Dark Moment in Native American History Sharon Marie Brunner’s Michigan Indian Boarding School Survivors Speak Out offers an intimate look into what it was like to be a child placed in an Indian boarding school in the twentieth century. Michigan had three Indian boarding schools…
Review by Tom Powers, Michigan in Books In the very first sentence of Memories of a Mackinac Island Native, the author writes he “will not attempt to cover a detailed Mackinac Island history.” By the end of the book, I wish he had covered more history and fewer personal memories…
Sparks of the Revolution Todd Harrison Otis Modern History Press 978-1-61599-787-9 $35.00 Hardcover/$21.95 Paperback/$6.95 eBook www.ModernHistoryPress.com Sparks of the Revolution: James Otis and the Birth of American Democracy is a novel that is steeped in the birth of the American democracy. It narrows its focus to a small band of…
No writer in the Upper Peninsula has a better formula for mixing satire with slapstick comedy and producing grins, chuckles and laughter than Terri Martin. Much of her success is due to inventing uniquely oddball Yooper characters strong enough to feature in and become the narrator of a book of…
Off the Hook: Off-Beat Reporter’s Tales from Michigan’s U.P. by Nancy Besonen It takes a special person to write a weekly humor column year after year and decade after decade. There has to be times when life is not funny, you’re just not in the mood to be humorous, or…
Relative Sanity by Ellen Lord I’m the last person who should be allowed to review poems. Many poems simply go over my head at the altitude of a jetliner. I don’t even understand some of the glowing remarks by the authors on the back of this book. But if…
Synopsis: With the publication of “Yooper Ale Trails: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula” by Jon C. Stott and Mikel B. Classen, beer and ale enthusiasts can visit the 29 unique craft breweries and brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Choose from among eight different Ale Trails for your…
Small Press Bookwatch: September 2023 James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief Midwest Book Review 278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575 The Native American Studies Shelf Synopsis: No less than 27 out of the 50 states’ names in the USA are based in Native American languages. Additionally, six out of 13 of Canada’s…
Synopsis: Penned by author and local newspaper columnist Sharon M. Kennedy in recent years, “The SideRoad Columnist: Observations from an Upper Michigan Author” presents a very special collection of her newspaper columns. To delight the reader, each installment tells a complete story in miniature. “The SideRoad Columnist” showcases Kennedy’s own…
Indians and Other Misnomers of the Upper Great Lakes is really quite a simple but important book that must have taken an enormous amount of work and research to produce. I also personally thought it profoundly ironic for multiple reasons. Basically, as the subtitle states the book simply lists names…
From The Mystery/Suspense Shelf Voodoo Shack: A Michigan Mystery Terri Martin Modern History Press 9781615997213, $29.95, HC, 150pp Synopsis: When 11-year-old Iris Weston discovers a ramshackle hunting cabin deep in Hazard Swamp, she and her friends decide it’s perfect for a secret clubhouse. The gang dubs it the Voodoo Shack…
Faces, Places, and Days Gone By — Volume 1 Mikel B. Classen Modern History Press https://www.modernhistorypress.com 9781615997251, $34.95, HC, 138pp Synopsis: With the publication of Faces, Places, and Days Gone By – Volume 1: A Pictorial History of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Mikel Classen’s pictorial history is the next best thing…
The Writing/Publishing Shelf Synopsis: Whether you are a new or experienced author, this updated and expanded third edition of “The Frugal Editor: Do-It-Yourself Editing Secrets-From Your Query Letters to Final Manuscript to the Marketing of Your New Bestseller” by veteran author, editor and book marketer Carolyn Howard-Johnson will dramatically assist…
Coats of Arms: An Introduction to the Science and Art of Heraldry Marc Fountain Modern History Press (2022) ISBN: 978-1615996957 Reviewed by Megan Weiss for Reader Views (03/2023) Coats of Arms: An Introduction to the Science and Art of Heraldry by Marc Fountain introduces readers to the intricacies of Heraldry….
Reviewed by Dawn Colclasure for Reader Views (12/2022) A poetry book with a title like Chlorophyll can give one pause. What is so special about chlorophyll to write a whole book of poems about it? For Raymond Luczak, who grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, plenty can be said about…
John Burroughs’ Bookshelf Synopsis: Featuring full-color pages accessible to readers of any age, “Coats of Arms: An Introduction to The Science and Art of Heraldry” (written and illustrated by Marc Fountain) is a how and why quick-start guide that explains knighthood and nobility and royalty, what coats of arms mean,…
