Michigan Voices: Our State's History in the Words of the People Who Lived It

Great Lakes Books Series

by Joe Grimm (Editor)

Joe Grimm of the Detroit Free Press has combined a fascinating collection of old family letters, diaries, journals, photos, and other memorabilia in this rare glimpse at Michigan's past. Based on a series of articles that appeared in the "Chronicles" column of the Detroit Free Press Sunday magazine from 1985 to 1987, Michigan Voices introduces the reader to a more personal side of the state's history.
Excerpts from historical documents include Cadillac's proposal of 1700 to establish Detroit and Roger Andrews' crusade for an independent Upper Peninsula in 1916. Among the chronicles Grimm has uncovered are humorous letters from a World War I recruit, an engaging series of correspondences between a Flint schoolgirl and Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy during the Great Depression, and an interview with Kenneth C. Welch, the revolutionary architect and planner who developed the mall/shopping center concept in 1946.

Genres: History

208 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1987

About the author

Grimm, a lifelong Detroit area resident, is a journalism professor at Michigan State University. With his students or by himself, he has published more than 20 books.

(source: Amazon)

Reviews

[Shane Skelcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love Michigan History. I found all of the sources endlessly fascinating and I cannot wait to incorporate these primary texts into my history class.

[Hris Hintz · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Michigan Voices it talks about many different things. It talk about different news articles from the Detroit Free Press and Wayne State Press. It is a non fiction book and vary interesting. It has news articles dating back to the 1700s. It uses Michigan’s own words to say what is happening in the state. It has some articles about the Toledo strip. There are some bad parts of this book. t is hard to get into the book because there is not really a story behind it. It skips from one article to the next.
Good things about this book are that it takes you back in time. It also gives you some more history about Michigan. When I would get home I could just take the book out and relax reading it. Michigan Voices gives you real pictures from the time that you are reading about.