Death’s Door: The Truth Behind the Italian Hall Disaster and the Strike of 1913 (Second Edition) by Steve Lehto

Cover of the book "Death's Door: The Truth Behind the Italian Hall Disaster and the Strike of 1913" by Steve Lehto, Second Edition. Features a sepia-toned photograph of a cross-shaped shadow in a doorway.

Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Steve Lehto’s “Death’s Door: The Truth Behind the Italian Hall Disaster and the Strike of 1913 (Second Edition)” offers a detailed account of the 1913 Christmas Eve mayhem and the corruption behind the strike in the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan. The peninsula is located in the northwestern…

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Gentlemen of the Woods: Manhood, Myth, and the American Lumberjack, by Willa Hammitt Brown

Book cover of "Gentlemen of the Woods" by Willa Hammit Brown features an illustration of a lumberjack holding an axe beside a tree. The title and subtitle "Manhood, Myth, and the American Lumberjack" are displayed on the right against a plaid background.

Review by Mack Hassler                   “Therefore it was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of all.” Genesis 11:9 A good scholarly writer is needed, especially when there are multiple voices on a topic.  Willa Brown began working on Gentlemen of the Woods for her dissertation at the…

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The Mysteries of Marquette, by Tyler R. Tichelaar

Book cover for "The Mysteries of Marquette: A Novel" by Tyler R. Tichelaar. Features a large, historic building under a cloudy night sky with a full moon. The title is displayed in a gothic font.

Review by Mack Hassler               “…to tell the whole thing, going back to that first grisly night….back even  further, in fact, to our days with Professor James at Harvard. Yes, to dredge it all up….” Caleb Carr, The Alienist (1994), p. 5 Tichelaar has produced a comprehensive book loaded with…

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Gentle Spirits by Thomas Ford Conlan

Book cover for "Gentle Spirits" by Thomas Ford Conlan. Features a rugged, reddish-brown mountain under a partly cloudy sky with a visible moon. The title and author's name are in bold black letters.

Review by Mack Hassler                                                     “…the novel is reflecting upon its own nature” Jean-Paul Sartre, Search for a Method, 1963 Gentle Spirits, this first book-length offering by Conlan, a retired shipmaster and poet, is not exactly an “Anti-Novel” in the tradition that Sartre describes above.  It does not use the…

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Accidental Shepherd: How a California Girl Rescued an Ancient Mountain Farm in Norway by Liese Greensfelder

The image shows the cover of the book "Accidental Shepherd" by Liese Greensfelder. It features a woman in a headscarf holding a cup, leaning toward a sheep inside a barn. The subtitle reads, "How a California Girl Rescued an Ancient Mountain Farm in Norway.

Review by: Sharon Brunner Liese Greensfelder’s Accidental Shepherd: How a California Girl Rescued an Ancient Mountain Farm in Norway tells a story about how a young courageous woman from California faced dangers and obstacles that she was not prepared to handle in a foreign country. It’s a story of remarkable…

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Piracy on the Great Lakes: True Tales of Freshwater Pirates by Mikel B. Classen

The image is a book cover titled "Piracy on the Great Lakes: True Tales of Freshwater Pirates" by Mikel B. Classen. The cover features a vintage photo of a ship's deck and railing, with an endorsement from author Sue Harrison at the bottom.

Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Mikel B. Classen’s “Piracy on the Great Lakes: True Tales of Freshwater Pirates” offers thought-provoking information about piracy, including attacking, robbing, and hijacking various types of watercraft and their crew. Piracy has occurred on the Great Lakes since the 1700s. Voyageurs in canoes transporting tons of furs…

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