KDL Recommends

Born without a right hand, Jim Abbott as a boy dreamed of being a great athlete. Raised in Flint, Michigan, by parents who saw in his condition not a disability but an extraordinary opportunity, Jim became a two-sport standout in high school, then an ace pitcher for the University of Michigan. But his journey was only beginning. On an overcast September day in 1993, Jim Abbott took the mound at Yankee Stadium and threw one of the most dramatic no-hitters in major-league history.

Relates the author’s efforts to eulogize a beloved rabbi who is near death, while at the same time befriending a Detroit pastor who gives spiritual guidance to the poor and homeless, and describes how observing these two different religious leaders rekindled his own faith.

This history details the natural aspects and environment of the Muskegon River in Michigan. Alexander tells the story from the perspective of humans who have influenced it since its creation, and describes how and why it was altered, and changes that might occur in the future.

This historical account of the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway balances the extraordinary scope of this construction project against the damaging biological shift of the marine ecosystems in the area. Alexander, an environmental journalist and author, spent nearly a decade researching the effects the seaway had on the entire Great Lakes region. He provides general readers with a detailed account of the invasive marine species that migrated into these waters through the ballast water tanks of ocean freighters and shows how this ecological disaster is continuing to spread throughout North American waters.

Contains the graphic story of a young Michigan soldier’s experiences during President Woodrow Wilson’s ill-fated 1918 military expedition against the Bolsheviks in the frozen reaches of northern Russia.

A gripping account of America’s first—and largest—school mass murder

“Once America’s capitalist dream town, Detroit is our country’s greatest urban failure, having fallen the longest and the farthest. But the city’s worst crisis yet (and that’s saying something) has managed to do the unthinkable: turn the end of days into a laboratory for the future. Urban planners, land speculators, neo-pastoral agriculturalists, and utopian environmentalists—all have been drawn to Detroit’s baroquely decaying, nothing-left-to-lose frontier. With an eye for both the darkly absurd and the radically new, Detroit-area native and Rolling Stone writer Mark Binelli has chronicled this convergence.”—Provided by publisher.

From the first European explorers to pioneer settlers to modern-day Michiganians, the Upper Peninsula’s inhabitants have faced weather’s most devastating challenges: extreme snowstorms, heat waves, floods, fires, and more.

An illustrated book about the visionary, risky, and influential business of transporting loaded railroad cars across Lake Michigan

A U.S. Marine who served two combat tours in Iraq, an actor on The Wire and son of novelist Frederick Busch reflects on his childhood in rural New York, his experiences as a Marine and the nature of mortality.

Vintage Views Along the West Pike: From Sand Trails to US-31 is a pictorial history of Michigan’s most famous road. The historic West Michigan Pike, originally M-11, was the first continuous, improved road between Michigan City and Mackinaw City. This route along the Lake Michigan coast opened West Michigan to automobile travel and tourism. The book depicts the adventure and romance of motoring on Michigan’s most prominent early highway. Vintage postcards, photographs, maps, and ephemera illustrate this journey as you time-travel through the beautiful West Michigan landscape and quaint towns to hotels and cabins, tourist camps and state parks, and other stops along the road.

A definitive history of an inconographic piece of American transportation technology captures the remarkable story of the Model T Ford and technological innovations that made its development possible, and of its long-lasting impact on America.

In this powerful story of 19th-century Covert, blacks and whites lived peacefully and equally with shared political power, integrated schools, and interracial marriage. This remarkable Michigan community became and remains racially integrated.

Traces the pivotal ways in which the careers of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird positively influenced the NCAA and the NBA, chronicling the dramatic 1979 NCAA finals and the epic rivalry that rendered college basketball a multibillion-dollar event.

Michigan s first psychiatric facility including the architectural style and plans, building descriptions and history, Legislative Acts regarding the operation and governance, personnel including Medical Directors, historical perspective on the causes of insanity, their treatment and services, noteworthy events and a complete bibliography and appendex.

In this entertaining and well-researched book—the first of its kind—the secrets, legends, and myths surrounding some of Michigan’s literary luminaries are explored.

With lively narration, telling anecdotes and vivid battlefield accounts, Michigan and the Civil War presents, as never before, the story of Michigan’s heroic role in saving the Union.

This political biography explores the life and career of William G. Milliken, Michigan’s 44th and longest-serving governor (1969-1982). Milliken’s Republican tenure reflected his belief in civility, decency, and support for the environment, while also revealing his strength in building effective coalitions, such as with Detroit Mayor Coleman Young. Milliken’s moderate views are frequently at odds with today’s political landscape, making this accessible biography more relevant and inspiring.

From the author of the award-winning Frontier Metropolis, this volume presents a comprehensive visual history of the straits of Mackinac in pre-photographic images.

The definitive biography of the youngest state governor in American history.

For many readers, the name Ernest Hemingway conjures up images of the Spanish Civil War, the snows of Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro, or the author’s years in Key West and Cuba. This book, however, focuses on a neglected locale in the great author’s life: the Little Traverse Bay region of northern Michigan, where the young Hemingway and his family vacationed during the first two decades of the 20th century.

The author discusses his twenty-month stint in a Michigan sawmill after he dropped out of college, dicussing his relationship with his fellow lumbermen who, despite low wages, poor weather, and elusive dreams of escape, took pride in their craftmanship.

In 1927, Henry Ford, the richest man in the world, bought a tract of land twice the size of Delaware in the Brazilian Amazon. His intention was to grow rubber, but the project rapidly evolved into a more ambitious bid to export America itself, along with its golf courses, ice-cream shops, bandstands, indoor plumbing, and Model Ts rolling down broad streets.

This collection of essays by members of the legal community and academia traces the evolution of Michigan law, exploring the state’s leadership in developing civil rights law, the impact of industrialization, and the history of labor law. In addition to analyzing Michigan law, the highly readable and engaging book serves as an introduction to the history of Michigan politics.

“A magisterially written, well-researched, informative, and entertaining biography of a woman who helped throw open the doors to broader participation and power for women in the Republican Party and American politics.”—Dave Dempsey, author of William G.Milliken : Michigan’s Passionate Moderate. Elly Peterson was one of the highest ranking women in the Republican Party. In 1964 she ran for a Michigan seat in the U.S. Senate and became the first woman to serve as chair of the Michigan Republican Party. During the 1970s she grew disenchanted with the increasing conservatism of her party, united with other feminists to push for the Equal Rights Amendment and reproductive choice, battled Phyllis Schlafly to wrest control from her of the National Federation of Republican Women, and became an independent. Elly Peterson’s story is a missing chapter in the political history of Michigan, as well as the United States. This new biography, written by Sara Fitzgerald (a Michigan native and former Washington Post editor), finally gives full credit to one of the first female political leaders in this country. When Peterson retired in 1970 as assistant chairman of the Republican National Committee, David Broder of the Post wrote that her abilities would have earned herthe national chairmanship were it not for the unwritten sex barrier that both parties have erected around that job.”—Provided by the publisher

Everyday Klansfolk uses newly available documents to reconstruct the life and social context of a single grassroots unit in Newaygo County, Michigan. A fascinating glimpse behind the mask of America’s most notorious secret order, this absorbing study sheds light on KKK activity and membership in Newaygo County, and in Michigan at large, during the brief and remarkable peak years of its mass popular appeal.

Northern Michigan, as well as the mountains and forests of the American West, play a central role in Jim Harrison’s 10th book of poetry. Contrasting the complexity and absurdity of our current sociopolitical world with the lessons offered in rivers, thickets, the moon, birds, and the companionship of dogs, Harrison’s poetry relishes the art of living and explores life’s mysteries that hold us up and keep us going.

Michigan Notable Book

A beautifully mysterious inquiry… Here Harrison forthright, testy, funny, and profoundly discerning a gruff romantic and a sage realist, tells tales about himself, from his dangerous obsession with Federico García Lorca to how he touched a bear’s head, reflects on his dance with the trickster age, and shares magnetizing visions of dogs, horses, birds, and rivers.—Booklist

Told in first-person, these stories of a Michigan woman with both Native American and white heritage shed light on the experiences of growing up in an Ojibway community in northern Michigan during the early 1900s.

Join department store historian Bruce Allen Kopytek in this return to the elegance of Jacobson’s, a beloved Michigan institution for well over one hundred years. Reenter the marvelous stores and meet the personalities who transformed Jacobson’s from its humble Reed City origins to a staple of sophistication throughout the region and in Florida.

This detailed and readable account describes the 2001 tragedy on Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm’s farm in Vandalia, a rural Cass County town. Crosslin founded Rainbow Farm in 1993 as a shelter for marijuana smokers, libertarians, disconnected gays and lovers of live music. Local authorities charged Crosslin and Rohm with growing marijuana, used social services to remove Rohm’s son from the farm, and began taking the necessary steps to confiscate the property. Kuipers provides an account of the incident and argues that maximum force is not always morally justified when dealing with the emotional issues surrounding the War on Drugs.

Profiles the Jewish-American baseball player who, in 1934, risked his chance to beat Babe Ruth’s home run record by sitting out a game on Yom Kippur, and describes his impact on Jewish-American history.

The Academy Award-winning documentarian presents a series of pivotal episodes and humorous reminiscences from his early life which led to his decision to become a newspaper writer and filmmaker.

This book explores the enduring mystery and drama surrounding the 1913 Christmas Eve tragedy at Italian Hall in Calumet. After a still-unidentified man falsely cried, “Fire,” more than 70 people, many of them children, were crushed to death in the stairwell amidst the panicked crush to flee the building.

In 1964, Chrysler gave the world a glimpse of the future. They built a fleet of turbine cars—automobiles with jet engines—and loaned them out to members of the public. The fleet logged over a million miles; the exercise was a raging success.

The name Houghton is well-known to Michiganians. It graces a city, a county, a lake, waterfalls, schools, and more. But what made Douglass Houghton such a star? As the fledgling state s first geologist, he found more than any explorer before him from salt springs to gypsum. His reports helped launch a rush to the Keweenaw Peninsula s Copper Country. He also found time to be elected mayor of Detroit and teach at the University of Michigan, all before the age of thirty-six. Here is his story.

A gripping account of the mysterious disappearance of a young nun in a northern Michigan town and the national controversy that followed when she turned up dead and buried in the basement of the church.

Traces the author’s surprise discovery that his late mother had had a sister who was sent away under mysterious circumstances and never mentioned by the family again, his efforts to research his long-lost aunt’s story and whereabouts, and his struggles to understand the secrecy of her existence.

Our People, Our Journey is a landmark history of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, a Michigan tribe that has survived to the present day despite the expansionist and assimilationist policies that nearly robbed it of its identity in the late nineteenth century.

A visual tribute to the degradation of Detroit in the wake of the American auto industry’s decline reveals regional dignity and tragedy as reflected in scenes ranging from windowless grand hotels and barren factory floors to collapsing churches and prairie-grass covered blocks.

Drawing on ordinary moments from her childhood, with settings such as her family’s farmhouse and the local schoolyard, the author employs a gentle touch and poetic details to tell a compelling coming-of-age story in rural Oceana County.

An evocative portrait of the boxing icon centers around his historic match against Germany’s Max Schmeling on the eve of World War II, a fight that reflected international tensions and a triumph against racial barriers.

Traces the Vietnam-era rivalry between Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes and his nemesis, coach Bo Schembechler of the University of Michigan, in an account that evaluates the role of political and cultural turmoil in their efforts.

A dramatic fiftieth-anniversary account of the sinking of the Carl D. Bradley on Lake Michigan documents the violent storm that caused the disaster, the survival of four crewmen, and the desperate search-and-rescue mission on the part of frantic loved ones.

In a fit of questionable judgment, consummate indoorsman John Sellers tags along on a journey to search for snakes with his eccentric, aging father—an obsessive fan of Bob Dylan, a giver of terrible gifts, a drinker of boxed wine, a minister- turned-heretic, and, most importantly, the self-designated guardian of the threatened copperbelly water snake.The quest is their fumbling attempt to reconnect.

Describes artist Tyree Guyton’s efforts to rebuild his childhood community from neglected, trash-filled lots to an artful space, and explains how he and his community discovered the healing power of art in the process.

A history of Fishtown, in Leland, Michigan, describes a maritime landscape of weathered fishing shanties and fish tugs, tucked in along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Fishtown has witnessed the heyday of fishing and the trials of the changing Great Lakes but continues to be an active place for commercial fishing.

Celebrates the beauty of the upper Midwest and southern Michigan through a reflection of its nature, people, and traditions, including a tale about a man who makes musical instruments from the wood on his land and the passionate fight for land preservation.

This beautifully illustrated guide to gardening in Michigan describes the state’s native plants, explains how to grow them successfully, and gives tips and advice on solving common gardening issues.

The lilting, poetic language of these essays brings to life the sights, smells and sounds of Michigan’s best-known resource. As they reveal stories of childhood and family, of nature and history, these distinguished writers provide insight into everyday Michigan, and both the gifts and perils along Michigan’s shores and in their own lives.

Taylor’s book serves as a marvelous case study of one of the United States’ premier companies, of which every American quite literally now holds a share.

Heart-touching poetry and prose, filled with clear insight and humor, combine to tell stories of the human condition. The Ann Arbor poet draws from memories of a life well lived, rich in sensory details and filled with vivid emotion.

A uniquely American story of success, failure, and redemption documents the crumbling of the once-mighty car industry, revealing the impact of this crisis on workers and communities.

A photo-driven insider’s look at Bob Seger’s career from the early days to his breakthrough as a world-famous musician.

Little Willie John was an American R&B singer who performed in the 1950s and early 1960s and is best known for his popular music chart successes with songs such as, “All Around the World” (1955), “Need Your Love So Bad” (1956) and “Fever” the same year, the latter covered in 1958 by Peggy Lee.

The celebrity cosmetic surgery blogger describes his misfit youth as a nerdy Korean-American student with a misshapen jaw whose life-changing surgery led him to become a successful plastic surgeon.