Midwest Book Review on Sparks of the Revolution by Todd Otis

Book cover of “Sparks of the Revolution,” showing a Revolutionary War-era rider on horseback holding a lantern. The background features an American flag and a battle scene. The author's name, Todd Otis, is at the bottom. Subtitle reads, “James Otis and the Birth of American Democracy.”.

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…

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“Yooper Poetry” Features the UP Experience in Verse

A man with a beard in a plaid shirt alongside a book cover titled 'yooper poetry'.

By  Ernest Dempsey Modern History Press has published works of both fiction and poetry from and about the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) of Michigan. Its latest book is an anthology of poetry by Yoopers (UPers) titled Yooper Poetry: On Experiencing Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Edited by Raymond Luczak, a proud Yooper who…

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Michigan in Books reviews Church Lady Chronicles: Devilish Encounters

Church lady chronicles devilish encounters.

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…

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Michigan in Books reviews “Off the Hook” by Nancy Besonen

Off the hook by nancy besson.

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…

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Michigan in Books reviews “Relative Sanity”

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…

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Midwest Book Review on “Yooper Ale Trails” by Stott and Classen

Yooper ale trails craft breweries and breweries of michigan's upper peninsula.

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…

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Modern History Press announces nominations for Pushcart Prize XLVIII

The cover of pushcart prize best of the small presses.

Each year it is my pleasure to nominate just six short pieces for the Pushcart Prize.  Always a tough selection, but here’s my nominations for 2024. Winners would be announced in April 2024 if it comes to that. And the nominees are… Hilton Moore for “The Cell Tower” (North of…

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Midwest Book Review on Indians and Other Misnomers of the Upper Great Lakes by Phil Bellfy

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…

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Ellen Lord’s chapbook Relative Sanity reflects on life in Northern Michigan with poems of loss, longing, betrayal, and forgiveness

https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s544/audio/2023/08/int-ellenlordwalloon-final.mp3 Click on the player above to listen to Ellen Lord’s interview Michigan native Ellen Lord has released her first chapbook, Relative Sanity, which features her elegiac and nature-centered poetry. Currently residing in Charlevoix County, Ellen has an Upper Peninsula connection with an ancestral home in Trout Creek. Her writing…

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Midwest Book Review on The SideRoad Columnist: Observations from an Upper Michigan Author by Sharon M. Kennedy

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…

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“Michigan In Books” reviews U.P. Reader #7

Review by Tom Powers, Michigan in Books I don’t envy the hard choices the editors had to make in selecting the poetry, fiction and non fiction included in this annual publication showcasing the best from what I consider the largest (geographically speaking) writers’ colony in the country. Among the cornucopia…

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Tom Powers reviews Indians and Other Misnomers of the Upper Great Lakes

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…

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Midwest Book Review on “Voodoo Shack: A Michigan Mystery”

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…

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Midwest Book Review on Faces, Places, and Days Gone By Mikel B. Classen

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…

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Meet Jon Stott – “Yooper Ale Trails: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula “

Local Beer Guidebook Author to Visit UP Brewpubs and Craft Breweries This June, Jon C. Stott, award-winning writer of beer travel books, will be visiting brewpubs and craft breweries in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to celebrate the publication of his new book, Yooper Ale Trails (published by Modern History Press, Ann…

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A CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for a POETRY ANTHOLOGY that CELEBRATES the U.P.

Raymond Luczak, a Yooper native (from Ironwood and Houghton) and author/editor of 30 books, is seeking new work for a new poetry anthology about experiencing Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.), which Modern History Press (MHP) will publish in the summer of 2024. Since 2017, MHP has published 28 books, in all…

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Midwest Book Review on The Frugal Editor 3rd Ed by Carolyn Howard Johnson

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…

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Modern History Press Author to Tour UP Breweries in June

Jon C. Stott, author of the new book Yooper Ale Trails: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (Modern History Press, 2023), will be visiting local brewpubs and craft breweries in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula from June 8 to June 28, 2023. Stott will visit 9 breweries in UP and…

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Reader Views reviews Coats of Arms: An Introduction to the Science and Art of Heraldry

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….

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Ann Dallman interviewed on For the Love of Books Podcast

https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/5pguwa/audio1750531592.m4a Ann Dallman has lifelong roots in Michigan’s UP. She started out as a newspaper reporter/photographer and returned to journalism after retiring from teaching. In Cady and the Birchbark Box, Cady Whirlwind Thunder solves the mystery behind a weathered journal found inside a very old birchbark box. Why was the…

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