Books Received

Books Received Victoria Brehm. White Squall: Sailing the Great Lakes. Tustin, MI: Ladyslipper Press. 2018. Pp. 470. Bibliography. Glossary. Index. Notes. Paper: $29.95. White Squall examines a wealth of sailor experiences on the Great Lakes from the colonial period up through the twentieth century. Beginning with native stories about birchbark canoes and powerful underwater beings, Brehm explores a kaleidoscope of literary exploits to describe a maritime world only observable to those offshore. The author uses a vast array of sources, including archives of vessel data, folklore, autobiographies, essays, fiction, diaries, poetry, drama, and folksong, to analyze how the Great Lakes impacted people’s lives, and, in turn, show that Great Lakes history is more than just shipwreck stories. By pairing sailors’ stories with introductory remarks and explanations, Brehm reconstructs what it meant to participate in freshwater sailing. This will be a fascinating read for those interested in the Great Lakes, American Indian studies, or maritime history and sailing in general. Gillian Macdonald Central Michigan University Joe Grimm. The Faygo Book. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 2018. Pp. 136. Bibliography. Illustrations. Paper: $24.99. “Pop” or “soda”? Redpop or Rock & Rye? Returnables or nonreturnables ? These questions and many more go down easy in this account of Faygo, the pop (yes, pop!) brand affectionately identified with its origin city of Detroit. Grimm, a former Detroit Free Press editor and current Michigan State University editor in residence, follows his coauthorship of Coney Detroit (WSU Press, 2012) with this breezily written, colorfully designed volume on another Motown delicacy. Faygo, a family company from 1907, grew from local distribution into national exposure without losing its regionally intimate personality. Devotees of Michigan lore and food-and-beverage history will drink in the information, and baby boomers especially risk coming away with the Faygo theme song, “Remember When You Were a Kid,” echoing in their heads. Edwin M. Bradley 142 The Michigan Historical Review Bailey Sisoy Isgro. Rosie, A Detroit Herstory. Illustrated by Nicole Lapointe. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2018. Pp. 40. Paper: $16.95. As the owner of Detroit History Tours, Sisoy Isgro has a unique perspective on the history of the Motor City. Rosie, A Detroit Herstory offers young readers a chance to learn about women’s contributions to the city’s effort during World War II. This beautifully illustrated book follows the timeline of the war in the United States and takes the reader through the story of “Rosie the Riveter” and how Detroit became a wartime industrial powerhouse. “Rosie” became a cultural representation of the industrious women who worked every imaginable job in the domain of men during the war, a collective might whose labor helped save the world. With a timeline and glossary included for the more difficult concepts, this book is a welcome way to learn about women in wartime. Gillian Macdonald Susan Sleeper-Smith. Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest: Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley, 1690-1792. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2018. Pp. 348. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Cloth: $45.00. Against great odds—including hostility from George Washington and other imperialists, the presence of competing European and colonial traders, and the intrusion of aspiring land barons—Indian women were key in establishing an agrarian village world in the lush Ohio Valley of the eighteenth century. That this accomplishment is little known is an injustice that Sleeper-Smith, a professor of history at Michigan State University, intends to correct in her well-researched, revisionist study. She writes that the thriving indigenous economy incorporated newcomers who found it wise to “be more like Indians rather than be suspiciously regarded as outsiders.” The reward for these women was the erasure of the evidence of their achievements in farming, clothing, craft making, and other pursuits, but this book restores the Ohio Valley as their space. The locale is not specific to Michigan, but there are numerous references in the text to Detroit, Michilimackinac, and other areas of the state-to-be. Edwin M. Bradley Books Received 143 Matthew R. Thick, ed. The Great Water: A Documentary History of Michigan. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2018. Pp. 282. Paper: $26.95. Positioned next to four of the five Great...