Review by Mack Hassler “Vermilac, (Worm Lake); “Pointe Aux Loup Springs (Wolf Springs) History tells us that if it had not been for the French and Indian War, which took place ten years before our War for Independence and which the British won, the whole continent from the East…
Review by Mack Hassler Tantae molis erat Romanem condere gentum “How hard it was to found the Race of Rome” Near the end of Book I, The Aeneid by Virgil (written about the time of Christ’s birth) “ … they were now looking up at the branches…
Review by Mack Hassler I went to the library, because I found that I learned more from one hour in the library than from one hour in class.” — The People’s Historian: The outsized life of Howard Zinn, by Dave Zirin, p. 45. Zinn’s family had come from Siberia early…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Michael S. Nyquist’s Honorable Peter White of Marquette paints a detailed and well-researched account of Peter White’s life. White held many prestigious professional roles, including attorney and Michigan House Representative. He was referred to as Mr. Marquette. He served as a jack of multiple trades, intelligent and…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Michael Nyquist’s The Iron Queen’s Revenge offers a well-researched study of a woman’s scorn that led to the possible murders of many unfortunate individuals. The true story was based on wealth, power, greed, lust, adultery, attempted murder and murder. The story took place in many locations, starting…
Review by Mack Hassler And when the couple had enjoyed their lovemaking, they shared another pleasure –telling stories. Odysseus told her how much he hurt So many people, and in turn How much he had endured himself. She loved to listen and she did not fall asleep until he told…
Review by Deborah Frontiera Mikel Classen is well known for thorough and boots-on-the-ground research for his nonfiction books and Grand Island: Island of History and Mystery is no different. In this short volume, he combines historical facts and travel information. In each short segment, he also provides his reactions to…
Review by Deborah K Frontiera Visiting Mackinac: 150 Years of Tourism at Michigan’s Fabled Straits by Frank Boles is not a history of the community but a chronicle of the visitors to the island from the 1830s through 1990. What began as a military outpost, a hub for the fur…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Randall S. Griffis’s book Where Youth and Laughter Go: The Tahquamenon Country and World War I offers a heart-wrenching rendition of World War I and some encounters of men from the Tahquamenon Country who fought in the war. Tahquamenon Country encompasses the small town of Soo Junction,…
Review by Sharon Brunner Phyllis Carlson’s “Dairies That Delivered Milk to the Residents of Dickinson County, Michigan” introduced a number of dairies that were in operation in the aforementioned county from the late 1800s to the 1970s during a time when lumbering and mining served as prevalent sources of income….
Review by Mack Hassler Oh Jake,” Brett said “We could have had such a damned-good time together…. “Yes,” I said, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” “You are all a lost generation” Gertrude Stein in conversation The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway (1926) I…
Review by Mack Hassler “then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more” …
Review by Victor R. Volkman Quite rarely, a “social history” book of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula crosses my Superior Reads desk. Social history focuses on the lives and experiences of ordinary people, rather than just political or military events. Social history is often described as “history from below” because it explores…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Kenneth C. Bracco’s “Michigan Auto Company: Calumet’s First Auto Dealership and the Man Behind it” brought to life stages of the automobile industry and other life changing events from 1900 to the 1960s. Other places mentioned in the book were Detroit and Chicago besides the main location…
Review by Mack Hassler “ We know what we are but know not what we may be” William Shakespeare, daily quote in the news sheet of my retirement home on the birthday of Shakespeare, 23 April 2025. We know that Lawton Hemans did not live to see his masterpiece in…
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…
Review by Mack Hassler “It is a poetry where the world becomes writing and language becomes the double of the world” — Octavio Paz Booksellers and especially publishers hope that books may be part of commerce. So it seems only fair that commercial books may be reviewed as though…
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…
