The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters, and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists of the Great Lakes

by Edward McClelland

Suspecting that Americans living along the Great Lakes have more in common with their Canadian neighbors than their Southern countrymen, Ted McClelland embarked on a three-month-long trip around the lakes to answer the question: "Is there a Great Lakes culture, and if so, what is it?"

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Edward McClelland is the author of Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President, which will be published in October by Bloomsbury Press. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, and on the websites Salon and Slate, among others. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lives in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood.

His previous books include Horseplayers: Life at the Track, and The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists of the Great Lakes."

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was once said about my native state that Ohio is "the farthest west of the East, the farthest east of the West, the farthest south of the North and the farthest north of the South." This would make Ohio the nexus of American cultures, where all the variants cancel one another out, therefore rendering Ohio devoid of regional culture. In my younger days, I certainly believed this to be true.

As a kid, I didn't get out much. This was the era just before frequent flyer miles for middle class families. But, based on the limited travel I did accomplish, Ohio felt like the great generic. Our family trips to the beaches on the East Coast certainly reflected a different flavor in the people, landscape and local delicacies. I never got south of Virginia as a child, but Walton's Mountain country was already a sea change from NE Ohio. The vast expanses of western America were viewed only through books and magazines and felt like planet Oz to my Buckeye sensibilities.

Luckily, I enjoyed a period of more extensive travel in my 20s and early 30s and managed to pass through most of the lower 48. Throughout my travels, I always remarked on the fact that very few places felt like Ohio. (Perhaps a good thing!) I made exceptions for Michigan, Wisconsin and Missouri. And, I always felt at home in Chicago because it reminded me of a bigger and more well heeled Cleveland. Ontario always gave me a sense of familiarity, despite the subtle Canuck accents.

So, when my compadre (and, in my estimation, talented amateur travel writer) Chris posted about a book that actually posits a Great Lakes regional culture, I was intrigued. Are my peeps not actually a mere hour's drive away in western PA, but, instead, scattered throughout southern Canada and the shores of the Upper Peninsula and Duluth?

Ted McClelland makes an interesting case for the regional ties that bind the inhabitants of the shores of all 5 Great Lakes. And he accomplishes what all writers of travelogues should do. In my case, he makes me very interested in taking my own drive around the Lakes one day. Although I live in NE Ohio, I have yet to visit the UP or northern Minnesota and my encounter with Wisconsin was equally brief. This region is certainly deserving of more of my attention.

Apparently, Great Lakers are held together by their fondness for fishing, arena rock and sausage. I'll pass on the fishing and the arena rock. However, I will cop to the sausage and other "encased meats". Pepperoni and the repulsive-yet-scrumptious ethnic sausages of my hometown have prevented me from embracing a 100% vegetarian diet. (Conversely, I have not eaten a steak in almost 20 years and never miss it.) I also represent the more repressive emotional qualities of the Great White North...a lack of comfort with vocal religion and the earnest hand-wringing of a northern liberal, just a few generations removed from Eugene Debs.

I have chafed, along with Ted McClelland, over the great southernization of America. It irks me that the only people now considered "real" are those who enjoy NASCAR, country music and grits. It is not that I have any real problems with the south. I have enjoyed my visits south of the Ohio River immensely. I just don't want to live there. And I am a real person, too...not some cappucino drinking snob in a black turtleneck. (I am a green-tea drinking shlub in a black turtleneck.)

The climate kills me and sometimes the ennui sets in. But as I have grown older, I have become more fond of my region and prouder than I ever would have imagined to call it home. The "rust belt" has taken many blows over my lifetime and much of the rest of the country has counted this old underdog out. But we are a tenacious, patient and hopeful group of people along these many lakes. And it is a nice change to read something positive and interesting about the place.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars and interesting while being super detailed. I loved all the people descriptions as much as the landscapes and natural features. And some if not all, are mighty.

But he also generalized too much in spots. Most especially in contrast/ compare.And particularly so with the South.(Southern USA).

I learned much about sections of Canada and the mores. Great travel idea/ route was extremely inclusive.

[Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very excited to read this one as I've lived in the south, far from the great lakes, for over a decade. Did well to make me homesick, and add some stops to a future road trip. But the author is simply the worst kind of Northern lib, the kind who can write off a Canadian gun nut as a cute anachronism seemingly only because he's not American, and also make statements like how great it would have been if the South had won the Civil War (because then he wouldn't be so *embarrassed* by them). Get bent, dude.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book made me so homesick for the lakes that I started looking at lake front cottages for sale on Lake Erie. The author drove around the Great Lakes and stopped to meet the people who live there. What we know as the North Coast, he has dubbed the Third Coast. He visited small burgs, islands, tugboats and big boats, and everything in between. This book is so fun to read because we know these people--we grew up with them, went to school with them, heck we are these people. Get this book for your best friend in Cleveland or your cousin in the UP. They'll love you for it.

Junior high school trivia--how do you remember the names of the lakes? HOMES

[Nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A weird book, but one I enjoyed very much. A travelogue of the Great Lakes region. It is a series of sketches of the distinct culture of the "Third Coast." If you haven't traveled or lived in this part of the world, it might seem odd and unapproachable, but I loved it. It takes place in the summer of 2005, so the political references made might make it seem dated, or just, enhance the slice-of-life characteristics of the book.

I recommend it.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book I saw on the library New Books shelf a couple of years ago, put on my "library TBR" list, and never got around to checking out until recently. Now that I've finished it, I'd describe the book as solid writing, although I had a bit of an issue with the flow, which seemed more like a series of articles than a continuous narrative. Recommended for folks with a particular interest in the region.

[a · Rating 2 out of 5]

not really what I thought it would be...

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want to take the Lake Michigan Circle Tour and also visit Windsor Ontario which is right across from Detroit. I really enjoyed reading this and can't wait until I can take my trip someday.

[Tim Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2 stars. Different parts of the book ranged from three to four stars. It's a decent read, but lacks that something that makes a book special.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and fascinating journey around the Great Lakes region.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the Great Lakes..this book was disjointed and more about the author than I would have liked.
The journey was interesting, but got bogged down at times. I found myself skipping through a lot.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a sailor. A road warrior, yes, but not a sailor. I read this book with the enthusiasm and mindset of a driver, and the heart of a suburbanite entrenched inland from the largest existing Third Coast metropolis. So it seemed fitting that the author, Ted McLelland, began his journey to circumnavigate the Great Lakes in his adopted hometown of Chicago, a city in which I have resided. From there he traveled essentially clockwise around HOMES keeping the fresh water starboard. His travelogue eschews pop culture lore found in other travel books such as Highway 61 and also steers clear of lampooning mockery of the locals one would find in Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent. Instead, McLelland is genuinely interested in "folks." He can't help his big city author origin, yet he clings delicately to the stories of obscure Great Lakes authors, local artists, townies, islanders, and fresh water mariners. He takes diligent notes and writes up anecdotes with an occasional persistent flair of a newsman seeking a story. Some of his tales fall flat, unnecessarily wordy and illustrated the very reason for the remoteness of the outposts he visits. Despite that, these are grindstone souls, hardened by the bitter winters of the North and the local taverns. I suspect a great many of them had grizzled faces peppered with stubble, perhaps even some of the women. So their plight or destiny, whichever way you look at it, perpetuated the nagging desire in me to one day hit the road and see the places I read about for myself. Many of them seemed willing to share their life on the Third Coast albeit timidly. There was an absence of a pretentious air, and I gathered that made enduring the odyssey a bit more colorful. Perhaps it even made McLelland long for the big city of Chicago and its blue collar grit with culture. However he felt, the book gave me a seldom renewed appreciation for my proximity to Lake Michigan. It took me at once back to family summer vacations in Wisconsin, to visits to Sheboygan for my first taste of frozen custard, to discovering the delicacy known as pasties from a native Michiganer, to a fish boil in Toledo I had on another family excursion, and to the grand views of the lake along the northern Midwest states. Essentially, I could make a case that I grew up near enough to the Third Coast. I chose the Third Coast to propose to my wife. It has a special place in my heart as I am sure it does in Ted McLelland's.

[Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable, if unfocused piece of travel writing. McClelland's goal of discovering the culture of the Great Lakes by exploring the entire length of the inland seas, encountering a variety of eccentric locals in cities, towns, and national parks were always very interesting. The similarities in culture between people in various states and provinces that surround the great lakes, regardless of nationality that differentiates them from other areas of the continent is something I've been interested in and McClelland does much to show that such similarities exist. However, it is not an argument without flaws and he occasionally seems to become a little rambling when talking about the diverse and unusual people and places he encounters. The book is divided into short chapters describing a single segment of McClelland's journey and each depicted the local conditions well, making me feel like I had visited them as well (or visited again, in the case of places like Duluth or Door County, Wisconsin that I have spent time in). Taken alone, these segments are great local color but together can be a bit unfocused as the author tries to bind together random themes in his travels. On the other hand, not all of McClelland's plans for his travel itinerary work out, giving the book an interesting sense of being on a trip, the many unexpected occurrences that happen while traveling. In spite of the many people McClelland interviews, it is a quite personal narrative as well, dealing with McClelland's own thoughts on the region, and I enjoyed it.

[Doreen Fritz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as Bill Bryson's *A Walk in the Woods* inspired me to walk the Appalachian Trail (a goal still unmet), this description of a trip around the entire Great Lakes has me wanting to pack up my tent and set out to relive McClelland's experiences. I loved the combination of personal stories, bits of history and culture, and science/ecology about the places he visited on his journey. He mixed times in the rugged outdoors with respites in hotels, evenings of music and eating, and visits in museums and in people's homes. He explored the opinions and policies of people and governments that he encountered on his journey and declared the Great Lakes to be the Third Coast as well as the Freshwater Nation, a region equally as unique and distinct as any other region in our vast continent. At one point he declared that we might have been better off to win the War of 1812 and lose the Civil War, which would have united the upper Midwest States with their neighboring Canadian provinces, and separated the southern U.S. into its own nation. McClelland is convincing in describing how that result would have made better sense than our current status. But ultimately, this is not a political book. It is a fun romp, an escape from our daily routines to a wandering exploration, a fun visit with lots of new friends, and an invitation to "get away" and enjoy a vacation in some wonderful places. Someday, I may just do that --- along the Third Coast.

[Rob Y. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to lay in bed at night and read before I fall asleep. I keep a book on the bed and presently that book is this book! I get about a chapter in a night and it's been a thoroughly enjoyable experience so far.

Who doesn't want to gas up the Neon and drive 9600 miles! So far I'm in Ontario and I've 'met' union dudes, European mariners, fish bait purveyors, indian painters and my favorite, the Haven "hi' guy.

I love road trips but my road trips are almost always point 'a' to point 'b'. I rarely stop along the way, Ted stops and asks questions and now I feel even stupider for not stopping along the way.

it's a terrific book and one I would strongly recommend. It's like Charles Kuralt only rated "PG"

[Lee Fritz · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3.5 stars) I enjoyed the tone of this journey around the great lakes as it stirred up memories of my own experiences traveling to many of the locations. It also got me excited about trying out some of the other spots he visited. In particular, I found his overall thesis that the Freshwater Nation belongs together more so than the current USA intriguing if a bit unrealistic.

The last third of the book dragged a bit for me, which is the only reason this book didn't earn the full 4 stars. Overall, a very enjoyable travel guide to the great lakes!

[Ken Hasner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book,it was a like a slice of American pie that many of us on either coast would never get to experience. The Great Lakes region is essentially a land mass surrounded by inland seas with large ocean going vessels, nautical commerce and a character vastly different from my life here in NJ. I never really knew such a land existed before reading this !

Ted McClelland paints a vivid and fascinating picture about the places. people and culture of this 'different' America and it made me add the Great Lakes region to my list of places to see someday.

Recommended !

[Denise Adele K · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun look at the culture surrounding the Great Lakes. As a Chicagoan, I felt like I knew a little more than the average person about the lakes we live on, but was pleasantly surprised that there was still a lot I had to learn! I liked McClelland's open mind and eye for the unusual and unique on his trip. After reading this, I would love to do a tour like this myself (but not alone and not camping)

[Robert Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely FABULOUS book. A joy to read and certainly one that makes you want to take a similiar jaunt around the Great Lakes. I had read it several years ago when I made it the official book of the Fritz Angling & Gigging Society... (when we were heading north for our annual fishing trip.) It was delightful to read both then and now. After finishing it, I checked the library for more by this writer who comes up with the best turns of phrase and next read his "Blue Skies".

[Barb Ruess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Great Lakes. Someday I swear I'm going to live on Lake Michigan and I drive up to the Lake whenever I possibly can. This book is all about different people & communities around the Lakes. Fun, easy & very enjoyable. If you like short stories and/or like the Great Lakes area this is a must read.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed a lot of this book, but I caught a really glaring factual error about Door County. The restaurant in question is named Al Johnson's, not L. Johnson's, and it's in Sister Bay, not Ellison Bay. Can't believe an error like that got through, so I had to downgrade the stars. It made me sort of mistrust the rest of the book. Was the info factual or not?

[Bing · Rating 4 out of 5]

History and culture of the Great Lakes area. Entertaining reading, perhaps even more so for those of us sick to death of hearing about the South. Also, I enjoy to read about eccentrics, and the author encounters a fair amount on his travels around the Lakes.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot...not enough has been written about the fascinating culture of the upper midwest/great lakes region. If I had time, I would do the same as the author...take one big road trip around all the lakes.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm from MI and the Great Lakes have such a unique culture that so few on the other coasts explore; they lump us in with the flat states in the Midwest, but we have way more lighthouses than the rest of you. :) As somebody who misses MI, it was a fun read.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ted McClelland offers a new look at the Great Lakes region. He paints a picture of the regiona not as a dying rust-belt, but a vibrant mosaic of communities alive with arts and music, living history and connected through shipping.

[Eric Dye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed this book. However, I think this author needs some work on developing "characters." I got bored when he tried to make me care abu some of the individual people he met on this journey. However, I liked his descriptions of landscapes, stores, history, etc.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as many stories relating to Ohio as I had hoped, but still a good read -- lots of neat tales from the Great Lakes!

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A look at the people who live around the Great Lakes.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who knew what a rich, eclectic history we have here in the Great Lakes? This is a great summer read that will make you want to get out and explore!

[Susan]

This is an interesting travel narrative written by a Chicagoan who travels along the shores of the all the Great Lakes. It makes me want to follow in his foot steps!