The Trial of the Edmund Fitzgerald: Eyewitness Accounts from the U. S. Coast Guard Hearings ed. by Michael Schumacher (review)

206 The Michigan Historical Review more in-depth analysis of Flint’s history as it relates to its current problems, these historic grounds provide deeper perspectives than a mere examination of contemporary politics. This allows readers to better contextualize the diverse voices that Nickels includes in her examination of the city’s contentious political environment. Therefore, Nickels successfully argues that municipal takeovers largely ignore the voices of citizens and have long-lasting consequences for communities. Meg Corner Central Michigan University Michael Schumacher, ed. The Trial of the Edmund Fitzgerald: Eyewitness Accounts from the U. S. Coast Guard Hearings. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2019. Pp. 312. Glossary. Paperback: $19.95. The ore carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which went down with all hands in Lake Superior during a storm in November 1975, is the Great Lakes’ most famous shipwreck, thanks in large part to Gordon Lightfoot’s song about the loss, but also to the enduring mystery of how a well-equipped, modern vessel vanished so suddenly and completely. The disappearance of the Fitzgerald prompted an initial search hampered by the ongoing storm, and then a large-scale investigation that produced thousands of pages of documentation over the next two and a half years. In this new volume, editor Michael Schumacher, who has previously addressed the wreck in book and film, distills this voluminous paper trail to provide a readable and engaging narrative told through the voices of eyewitnesses and expert testimony. Schumacher presents the story in three parts. For the first section, “The Loss,” he excerpts eyewitness accounts to lead the reader through the ship’s abbreviated journey, from its loading, through deteriorating weather conditions and initial problems reported via radio, to the uncertainty and confusion surrounding the ship’s sudden disappearance and eventually the initial identification of the wreckage. In this section in particular, the reader without a large maritime vocabulary should read patiently; not every piece of jargon is included in the glossary, but they are all eventually explained, though sometimes a few pages after their initial use. The book’s second section, “The Investigation,” shifts attention to the Coast Guard board of investigation. Here Schumacher asks and Book Reviews 207 answers questions the board tackled in their efforts to explain what had happened. Was the ship seaworthy? Were inspections up to date? Was the crew properly trained? Again, this is told through excerpts of the witness testimony, with each speaker and his role in the investigation identified. The cast of characters here is large, but a witness list at the end of the book provides a useful reference to help the reader keep track. This section ends with a postscript from Schumacher, explaining the eventual underwater efforts that positively identified the wreckage and its history since, ending with legislation that limited access to the wreck and recognized it as the gravesite of the Fitzgerald’s twenty-nine lost crewmembers. The third section consists of three documents: the report from the Coast Guard board of inquiry—detailing both their theory as to how the loss happened and recommendations to prevent like disasters in future— a response from the shipping industry body vehemently opposing the board’s conclusions, and the National Transportation and Safety Board’s marine accident report. These documents provide some closure to the earlier questions surrounding the loss while also explaining why controversy continues over what exactly happened. On the whole, the book provides a well-curated narrative. It will be of particular interest as an entrée to the primary sources for the enthusiast of Great Lakes shipping or shipwrecks broadly, and of course the Edmund Fitzgerald specifically. But Schumacher has also succeeded in making it quite approachable for someone whose only previous knowledge of the Fitzgerald comes from Lightfoot. Penelope K. Hardy University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Susan Skarsgard. Where Today Meets Tomorrow: Eero Saarinen and the General Motors Technical Center. Hudson, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2019. Pp. 256. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Hardcover: $60.00. In 1944, as the Second World War drew to a close, General Motors’ corporate luminaries Alfred Sloan and Charles Kettering anticipated that there would be a robust growth in the automobile industry in peacetime America. Answering...