Michigan: A History of Explorers, Entrepreneurs, and Everyday People by Roger L. Rosentreter (review)

Single-volume histories of states share a common set of difficulties with national history textbooks. What topics should be covered? Which major figures require inclusion and emphasis? Which lesser known yet still significant figures warrant inclusion? Is there a particular topical or thematic focus to center the work? Is the audience intended to be a general one, or is the book geared more towards a classroom-based readership? Authors have become more conscious of all of these issues as they consider a diverse population, address new curricular standards, and engage broader public interest since the 1960s. Michigan's history has been examined by a number of authors both within popular histories and textbooks. The latest entry into the field is Roger L. Rosentreter's Michigan: A History of Explorers, Entrepreneurs, and Everyday People. The long-time editor of the state's popular-history format Michigan History Magazine, Rosentreter draws on that experience to craft his book. His particular goal is to touch upon the "contributions of the everyday people" who played unsung roles in the state's history (iv–v). At the same time, Rosentreter makes the case that some topics, despite interest or significance, must receive less coverage or be left out to ensure a work of manageable length.

The standard book on Michigan history has long been Willis F. Dunbar's Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State, first published in 1965 and last updated in 1995 by George S. May. A massive volume of over 750 pages, Dunbar's work (with May's additions) follows the standard narrative format for the genre. Starting with a survey of the state's geography, the book moves chronologically through histories of early Native Americans, European contact, exploration, war, industrialization, the auto industry, politics, and culture appropriate to Michigan's 1960s-era development. May's later additions push the endpoint of the work forward to the mid-1990s. Its sheer bulk and degree of detail make the book more an encyclopedia and less a work for a general audience. Even within a college-level classroom setting, the structure and general lack of narrative or thematic focus make it challenging to use. Other works also follow this format, including: F. Clever Bald's Michigan in Four Centuries (1954), Ferris E. Lewis's My State and Its Story (1937, with multiple editions) and later Lewis's Michigan: Yesterday and Today (1944 and 1956, with multiple editions), Richard A. Santer's Michigan: Heart of the Great Lakes (1977), Bruce A. Rubenstein and Lawrence E. Ziewacz's Michigan: A History of the Great Lakes State (1981, multiple editions), and George S. May and JoEllen Vinyard's Michigan, the Great Lakes State: An Illustrated History (2005). While effective, these narratives primarily serve as textbooks for classroom use at various levels, and subsequent works display limited variation from this style.

Two works that take a different approach are the Federal Writers' Project WPA Guide to Michigan: The Great Lakes State (1941) and Michigan: Visions of our Past (1989). The WPA Guide, although providing a history that is now dated in its approach, also examines major urban centers in the state, offering a snapshot of those cities during the 1930s. Additionally, it offers tours of regions throughout the state, highlighting industries and communities that have since departed or have been significantly altered in the intervening years. Instead of being a strict narrative, the WPA Guide surveys the state as a whole at a particular moment in time. It is valuable for its perspective of that time, both for what it included and what it left out. Visions of Our Past, commissioned for the state's 150th anniversary in 1987, is a collection of essays edited by Richard J. Hathaway that examine different aspects of Michigan history and synthesize the literature and scholarship to that point. Rosentreter contributed to this volume, as did other scholars, making it a vital contribution to understanding Michigan's...