Bold Boys in Michigan History


Book Description

Biographical sketches of twenty notable young men with ties to Michigan. Bold Boys in Michigan History—a companion to Great Girls in Michigan History—explores the stories of twenty boys who did some amazing things before they turned twenty years old. Author Patricia Majher presents easy-to-read mini-biographies about both highly acclaimed and lesser-known Michiganders, all of whom have led remarkable lives that will intrigue and inspire. This collection offers a diverse group that represents different cultures, time periods, and parts of the state. Woven into each chapter are life lessons that will encourage young readers to nurture their own passions and stand up for their beliefs. Some boys came from humble beginnings, including boxing champion Joe Louis, who used his athletic ability to raise his family out of poverty. Furtrapper Charles Langlade and Potawatomi chief Simon Pokagon fought hard to preserve their culture in a predominantly white world. Scientist Thomas Edison, Major League Baseball player Jim Abbott, and singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder excelled despite having physical disabilities. Some of the boys went on to become men who achieved great things in their chosen area of expertise. Success can come at any age, though, and can serve as motivation to those looking to be inspired. There are many books that celebrate great Michigan men, but very little has been written about accomplished young men. Bold Boys in Michigan History includes photographs, additional reading lists, and suggested places to visit around Michigan. Words that may be unfamiliar to some readers are highlighted in the text and defined in a glossary. Readers between the ages of 8 and 12 will love getting wrapped up in the stories of boys their own age who have lived extraordinary lives.




Bold Women in Michigan History


Book Description

It takes people of all kinds to shape a place. Abolitionists. Trade unionists. Artists. Scientists. Soldiers. Explorers. Traders. Crusaders. Senators. Designers. Michigan had all of these�and all of them, in this book at least, were women. Written for young adults, Bold Women in Michigan History tells the stories of thirteen extraordinary women. Long before the existence of high-tech weatherproof gear, Madame de Cadillac paddled a canoe across two great lakes to help her husband found Detroit. Magdelaine LaFramboise grew rich as a fur trader. Disguised as a man, Emma Edmonds fought for two years in the Civil War. Lucy Thurman, Waunetta Dominic, and Delia Villegas Vorhauer fought other battles�for rights and social justice for their families and communities. Myra Wolfgang, the �Battling Belle of Detroit,� picketed and struck. Sippie Wallace sang�and lived�the blues. And Pearl Kendrick and Grace Eldering labored over a vaccine that would save millions of lives. The DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) shot is still used today. Perfect for school, recreational reading, and the history shelf, Bold Women in Michigan History is a resource for kids and adults who like good stories about real people who made a difference




Bold Boys in Michigan History


Book Description

Biographical sketches of twenty notable young men with ties to Michigan.




The Boy Governor


Book Description

In 1831, Stevens T. Mason was named Secretary of the Michigan Territory at the tender age of 19, two years before he could even vote. The youngest presidential appointee in American history, Mason quickly stamped his persona on Michigan life in large letters. After championing the territory's successful push for statehood without congressional authorization, he would defend his new state's border in open defiance of the country's political elite and then orchestrate its expansion through the annexation of the Upper Peninsula---all before his official election as Michigan's first governor at age 24, the youngest chief executive in any state's history. The Boy Governor tells the complete story of this dominant political figure in Michigan's early development. Capturing Mason's youthful idealism and visionary accomplishments, including his advocacy for a strong state university and legislating for the creation of the Soo Locks, this biography renders a vivid portrait of Michigan's first governor---his conflicts, his desires, and his sense of patriotism. This book will appeal to anyone with a love of American history and interest in the many, larger-than-life personalities that battled on the political stage during the Jacksonian era.




A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in the Modern Age


Book Description

How have fairy tales from around the world changed over the centuries? What do they tell us about different cultures and societies? Drawing together contributions from an international range of scholars in history, literature, and cultural studies, this volume uniquely examines creative applications of fairy tales in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. It explores how the fairy tale has become a genre that flourishes on film, on TV, and in digital media, as well as in the older technologies of print, performance, and the visual arts. An essential resource for researchers, scholars and students of literature, history, the visual arts and cultural studies, this book explores such themes and topics as: forms of the marvelous, adaptation, gender and sexuality, humans and non-humans, monsters and the monstrous, spaces, socialization, and power. A Cultural History of Fairy Tales (6-volume set) A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in Antiquity is also available as a part of a 6-volume set, A Cultural History of Fairy Tales, tracing fairy tales from antiquity to the present day, available in print, or within a fully-searchable digital library accessible through institutions by annual subscription or on perpetual access (see www.bloomsburyculturalhistory.com). Individual volumes for academics and researchers interested in specific historical periods are also available digitally via www.bloomsburycollections.com.




North Country


Book Description

Travel north from the upper Midwest’s metropolises, and before long you’re “Up North”—a region that’s hard to define but unmistakable to any resident or tourist. Crops give way to forests, mines (or their remains) mark the landscape, and lakes multiply, becoming ever clearer until you reach the vastness of the Great Lakes. How to characterize this region, as distinct from the agrarian Midwest, is the question North Country seeks to answer, as a congenial group of scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals explores the distinctive landscape, culture, and history that define the northern margins of the American Midwest. From the glacial past to the present day, these essays range across the histories of the Dakota and Ojibwe people, colonial imperial rivalries and immigration, and conflicts between the economic imperatives of resource extraction and the stewardship of nature. The book also considers literary treatments of the area—and arguably makes its own contributions to that literature, as some of the authors search for the North Country through personal essays, while others highlight individuals who are identified with the area, like Sigurd Olson, John Barlow Martin, and Russell Kirk. From the fur trade to tourism, fisheries to supper clubs, Finnish settlers to Native treaty rights, the nature of the North Country emerges here in all its variety and particularity: as clearly distinct from the greater Midwest as it is part of the American heartland.







Baseball and the House of David


Book Description

House of David barnstorming baseball (1915-1957) was played without pre-determined schedules, leagues, player statistics or standings. The Davids quickly gained popularity for their hirsute appearance and flashy, fast-paced style of play. During their 200 seasons, they travelled as many as 30,000 miles, criss-crossing the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Benton Harbor teams invented the pepper game and were winners year after year, becoming legends in barnstorming baseball. Initially a loose affiliation of players, the Davids expanded to three teams--Western, Central and Eastern--as their reputation grew, and hired outsiders to fill the rosters. Prominent among them were pitchers Grover Cleveland Alexander and Charlie "Chief" Bender, both player managers in the early 1930s. They resisted the color barrier, eagerly facing Negro League teams everywhere. In 1934, before their largest crowd to date, they defeated the first Negro team invited to the famed Denver Post Tournament, the great Kansas City Monarchs, for the championship.







Children's Catalog


Book Description