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108 The Michigan Historical Review Marshall, Michigan, and then later in Canada. There is also Afua Cooper’s account of Mary Elizabeth Miles, whose lifework was expanded through marriage with Henry Bibbs, the activist and editor of the Bibb’s Voice of the Fugitive. The story of sixteen-year-old Caroline Quarlls’ escape is also shared by Kimberly Simmons and Larry McClellan. Lastly, A Fluid Frontier includes a section devoted to sources and resources that can provide guidance to historians and genealogists who are interested in placing others within the historical context of the Underground Railroad, local history, and family research. Harry Bradshaw Matthews USCT Institute Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY John Gallagher. Yamasaki in Detroit: A Search for Serenity Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2015. Pp. 128. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Cloth: $39.99. Michigan was an epicenter of Modern design in the mid-twentieth century, with designers styling everything from furniture and fabrics, to automobiles and boats, to suburbs and skyscrapers. Many of the world’s iconic Modern architects and designers were working in and from Michigan during those years, including Minoru Yamasaki (1912-1986). Although his quiet genius has been overshadowed by more famous architects such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Eero Saarinen, Yamasaki was, in his time, one of the country’s most prominent architects. Yet while van der Rohe, Saarinen, and other Modern architects have multiple scholarly works devoted to their careers, very little has been published about Yamasaki apart from his own autobiography, A Life in Architecture. One hopes John Gallagher’s Yamasaki in Detroit: A Search for Serenity is only the beginning of more scholarship on Yamasaki’s life and work. Gallagher is the well-respected architecture and development writer for the Detroit Free Press. While he has long been a fan of Yamasaki’s work in Detroit, his interest in “Yama” (as he was known to his friends and associates) was sparked by the recent restoration of the reflecting pool at the McGregor Memorial Conference Center at Wayne State University, long considered one of Yamasaki’s best works (and recently designated a National Historic Landmark). Book Reviews 109 The first half of the book covers Yamasaki’s biography and design philosophy. Gallagher draws heavily on Yamasaki’s autobiography but supplements with materials from Yamasaki’s papers, contemporary sources, and, most importantly, interviews with architects who worked for Yamasaki. Gallagher’s analysis explores Yamasaki’s early life experiences and how they shaped his later unique design philosophy, centered on the principles of “serenity, surprise, and delight.” While Yamasaki’s most famous work, the World Trade Center, is given prominence, it does not overshadow the significance of his other works. Particularly valuable is the section on Yamasaki’s working habits and interactions with the young architects and designers in his office, insights too often lost in more traditional architectural biographies. Gallagher also acknowledges Yamasaki’s few architectural failures, albeit not a difficult task given Yamasaki’s own honesty in doing so. Because, as Gallagher admits, this book is only a survey of Yama’s life and work, there are gaps waiting to be filled. Yamasaki’s college study, for example, is given only a short paragraph, but there is much more to be explored there, in particular the influence of Lionel Pries, who supervised a generation of architecture students at the University of Washington. Yama’s relationship with his peers, in particular his close friend Eero Saarinen, is given little attention although we know that Michigan’s design community was close-knit during this period. However, these gaps do not detract from the overall story of Yamasaki’s life and work presented by Gallagher. The second half of the book is a selection of Yamasaki’s work, chiefly in Detroit and its suburbs. A brief analysis of each commission is presented along with one or more contemporary images. A few historic photographs are included to illustrate instances where key design elements have been lost. This section is a good representation of Yamasaki’s work and presents characteristic elements which expressed his design philosophy. With so little available scholarship on Minoru Yamasaki’s important contribution to mid-century Modern design, Gallagher’s Yamasaki in...

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