Native stories and writings by women pioneers, travelers, and working women from the Great Lakes

Annotation Five immense lakes lie at the heart of North America. They comprise the world's largest freshwater system, containing 95 percent of the continent's fresh water, and one-fifth of the planet's total supply. The Great Lakes drainage basin is home to 40 million people and is the hub of industry and agriculture in North America. Its rich mineral deposits and natural resources have attracted and sustained human and wildlife populations for more than ten thousand years. The Great Lakes: A Natural Historyis the most authoritative, complete, and accessible book to date about the biology and ecology of this vital, ever-changing lake system. Written by one of Canada's best-known science and nature writers, Wayne Gradythis essential resource features superb nature photography and numerous sidebars that focus on specific animal, plant and invertebrate species.Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation.

A comprehensive travelogue and guidebook exploring island adventures on many of the 135 islands accessible by ferry or bridge in the Great Lakes Basin. The Great Lakes Basin is the largest surface freshwater system on Earth. The more than 30,000 islands dotted throughout the basin provide some of the best ways to enjoy the Great Lakes. While the vast majority of these islands can only be reached by private boat or plane, a surprising number of islands—each with its own character and often harboring more than a bit of intrigue in its history—can be reached by merely taking a ferry ride, or crossing a bridge, offering everyone the chance to experience a variety of island adventures. Great Lakes Island Escapes: Ferries and Bridges to Adventure explores in depth over 30 of the Great Lakes Basin islands accessible by bridge or ferry and introduces more than 50 additional islands. Thirty-eight chapters include helpful information about getting to each featured island, what to expect when you get there, the island's history, and what natural and historical sites and cultural attractions are available to visitors. Each chapter lists special island events, where to get more island information, and how readers can help support the island. Author Maureen Dunphy made numerous trips to a total of 135 islands that are accessible by ferry or bridge in the Great Lakes Basin. On each trip, Dunphy was accompanied by a different friend or relative who provided her another adventurer's perspective through which to view the island experience. Great Lakes Island Escapes covers islands on both sides of the international border between the United States and Canada and features islands in both the lakes and the waterways that connect them. Anyone interested in island travel or learning more about the Great Lakes will delight in this comprehensive collection.

Women's Wisconsin: From Native Matriarchies to the New Millennium, a women's history anthology published on Women's Equality Day 2005, made history as the first single-source history of Wisconsin women. This unique tome features dozens of excerpts of articles as well as primary sources, such as women's letters, reminiscences, and oral histories, previously published over many decades in the Wisconsin Magazine of History and other Wisconsin Historical Society Press publications. Editor and historian Genevieve G. McBride provides the contextual commentary and overarching analysis to make the history of Wisconsin women accessible to students, scholars, and lifelong learners.

The Midwest has produced a robust literary heritage. Its authors have won half of the nation's Nobel Prizes for Literature plus a significant number of Pulitzer Prizes. This volume explores the rich racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the region. It also contains entries on 35 pivotal Midwestern literary works, literary genres, literary, cultural, historical, and social movements, state and city literatures, literary journals and magazines, as well as entries on science fiction, film, comic strips, graphic novels, and environmental writing. Prepared by a team of scholars, this second volume of the Dictionary of Midwestern Literature is a comprehensive resource that demonstrates the Midwest's continuing cultural vitality and the stature and distinctiveness of its literature.

The evolution of the Lake Michigan Schooner -- The maritime frontier : schooners and urban development on the Lake Michigan shore -- Before the mast and at the helm : captains and crews on Lake Michigan schooners -- Schooner City : the life and times of the Chicago River port -- Lost on Lake Michigan wrecks, rescues, and navigational aids.

Gathering reviews and essays which examine Rich's poetry and prose, this text also looks at how critical opinion about her works has changed.

Pretend the World confronts our false sense of safety in our self-created worlds. From her St. Paul kitchen to the historical shores of Lake Superior, from an airplane above Bagdad to a clothing factory in Guangdong, Kathryn Kysar pretends the glimmering and the sordid in these honest, searing poems that explore the inequities, cracks, and fissures in women's constructed lives. Kathryn Kysar is the author of Dark Lake (Loonfeather Press, 2002), a book of poetry, and is the editor of Riding Shotgun: Women Write About Their Mothers (Borealis Books, 2008). She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Anderson Center, and she has published poems in many anthologies and magazines, including Great River Review, Mizna, and Painted Bride Quarterly. She serves on the board of directors for the Association of Writers and Writing Programs.

For young readers, a diverse collection of biographical sketches of twenty notable young women with ties to Michigan. A deep-sea diver, a dancer, an activist, an aviator, a singer, and a soldier—Great Girls in Michigan History highlights some of the girls from Michigan's past who did amazing things before they turned twenty years old. Author Patricia Majher presents easy-to-read mini-biographies of twenty girls with ties to Michigan, representing a variety of personal backgrounds and interests, locations across the state, and historical time periods. Majher introduces little-known stories, like those of female aviator Nancy Harkness (Love), pioneer Anna Howard Shaw, freedom seeker Dorothy Butler, professional baseball player Marilyn Jenkins, union leader Myra Komaroff (Wolfgang), and Native American writer Jane Johnston (Schoolcraft). She also includes figures that many readers will recognize—including First Lady Betty Bloomer (Ford), jockey Julie Krone, Motown star Diana Ross, and tennis champion Serena Williams. Majher shows that while life wasn't always easy for these girls, they were able to overcome any number of obstacles to achieve their goals. Great Girls in Michigan History includes a brief section on each girl's life after the age of twenty and a glossary of selected vocabulary words at the end of the book. With its depictions of young women who have not typically been represented in history texts, this book will be inspirational reading for upper elementary school students (ages 8 to 12) and welcomed by Michigan schools, bookstores, and public libraries.

Reading the Women of the Bible takes up two of the most significant intellectual and religious issues of our day: the experiences of women in a patriarchal society and the relevance of the Bible to modern life.