71 pages

By Phyllis Michael Wong
196 pages
WITH A FOREWORD BY LISA M. FINE, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY—
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is known for its natural beauty and severe winters, as well as the mines and forests where men labored to feed industrial factories elsewhere in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. But there were factories in the Upper Peninsula, too, and women who worked in them. Phyllis Michael Wong tells the stories of the Gossard Girls, women who sewed corsets and bras at factories in Ishpeming and Gwinn from the early twentieth century to the 1970s. As the Upper Peninsula’s mines became increasingly exhausted and its stands of timber further depleted, the Gossard Girls’ income sustained both their families and the local economy. During this time the workers showed their political and economic strength, including a successful four-month strike in the 1940s that capped an eight-year struggle to unionize. Drawing on dozens of interviews with the surviving workers and their families, this book highlights the daily challenges and joys of these mostly first- and second-generation immigrant women. It also illuminates the way the Gossard Girls navigated shifting ideas of what single and married women could and should do as workers and citizens. From cutting cloth and distributing materials to getting paid and having fun, Wong gives us a rare ground-level view of piecework in a clothing factory from the women on the sewing room floor.

by Wes Oleszewski
186 pages

This book contains historical narratives of true adventures on the Great Lakes. There is no fiction here, no names were changed and no events were concocted- when you read about someone and what happened to them is real. You see, there is no reason to make up any drama- the events themselves as documented in the sources used to recreate the narratives are exciting and dramatic enough on their own to thrill the reader. There was no need to make up any of the stories, because they tell themselves.
Above all is the author’s job to tell the stories of the obscure events and the forgotten adventures of the lakes and to take you , the reader, there. To place your feet on the deck timbers, to put you on the open lake clinging to a single piece of wreckage amid towering waves of ice water and screaming frigid winds. As you read you will find your feet walking the lakeshore amid uncut forests as you seek refuge, or perhaps you may find yourself hearing evidence in an 1848 trial for three mariners facing manslaughter charges. Let these pages be the amazing machine that teleports you through time and space and places you amid the adventures documented here.

By Frederick Stonehouse
188 pages
While the Great Lakes never had swashbuckling pirates like those that swept the Caribbean Seas, there were low-lifes willing to rob and pillage when the opportunity presented itself. Others where not above “moon cussing” or showing false lights to lure ships to wreck on inshore reefs where they pillaged the cargos and murdered the crews. When the economy “went South” some ship owners were not above purposely wrecking or sinking their own ships to collect the insurance money. Whether the crew survived was not a critical consideration. Even while ashore, sailors were not safe from the clutches of evil doers.

Frederick Stonehouse
186 pages

Unbelievably for those of us who remember the night the Fitz went down. 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of the wreck. This special edition brings the story up to date including theories and pictures. It is a must for serious Great Lakes buffs. Some folks have called the Fitzgerald the
“Titanic of the Great Lakes.”

by Robert R. Hruska
131 pages

U.P.’s ‘King of Humor’ writes his newest book. Hilarious hunting, fishing and life tales light up his new book

by Robert R. Hruska
118 pages

From Michigan’s U.P. to Canada, here are some humorous stories by the “the U.P. Rabbit,” Robert R. Hruska

By Wayne Louis Kadar
201 pages
Examination and thorough researh into many "cold" cases throughout the Great Lakes region. Crimes of all kinds; murders, rapes, robberies and other such heinous acts. Who knows, maybe you the reader may have a clue that helps solve a case.

By Wayne Louis Kadar
208 pages

Some of the Great Lakes region most heinous crimes have been committed by so called “serial killers”. This well researched book by Wayne Kadar covers true stories of “serial killers” of the region from the early 1800s to present and infamous names that every reader will recognize. A truly interesting read.