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Great Lakes Books Series
The Situation in Flushing
The Situation in Flushing [hardcover] Love, Edmund G [Jan 01, 1965]
- GenresFiction
272 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 1987
About the author
Edmund G. Love
19 books8 followersMr. Love wrote 20 books, and his work appeared in many anthologies and textbooks on writing.
Subways Are for Sleeping (1957) was based on Mr. Love's experiences in sleeping on New York City subway trains when he could not afford lodging. Reading like a handbook for the homeless, it was "a humorous, pathetic and extremely interesting excursion into ways of life as strange to most gainfully employed citizens as those of Papua head-hunters," Orville Prescott wrote in his review in The New York Times.
Mr. Love's book Hanging On was the story of how his family survived the Depression in Flint. It was later used in classes on American history at the University of Michigan, where he had earned a bachelor's and a master's degree. Another of his books, The Situation in Flushing (1965), concerned a boy's love of trains in the early 1900s.
After Army service in World War II, Mr. Love headed the team that wrote military histories of the war in the Pacific. He then turned to freelance writing. His book War Is a Private Affair (1959) was called "the finest book of its kind since Tales of the South Pacific" by Charles Poore in a review for The Times.
As a reaction to leaner days, Mr. Love dined in more restaurants than most food critics do. Beginning in 1952, he systematically ate his way through a large number of the restaurants listed in the Manhattan Yellow Pages, from ABC Carol Downtown Health Foods to Zorba.
"Sometimes you end up in some pretty awful places," he recalled in an interview in 1973. "When I started I asked a cop in Penn Station for a recommendation. He told me to look in the Yellow Pages. I did and picked A La Fourchette, the first one on the list. I had such a good dinner, I tried the same thing the next week." Twelve years and $18,000 later, he said he had sampled 1,750 of the 5,595 restaurants listed. "I don't monkey with one-arm joints or luncheonettes," he explained.
Mr. Love passed away from a heart attack in his home in Flint, Michigan. He was 78 at the time of his death.
Subways Are for Sleeping (1957) was based on Mr. Love's experiences in sleeping on New York City subway trains when he could not afford lodging. Reading like a handbook for the homeless, it was "a humorous, pathetic and extremely interesting excursion into ways of life as strange to most gainfully employed citizens as those of Papua head-hunters," Orville Prescott wrote in his review in The New York Times.
Mr. Love's book Hanging On was the story of how his family survived the Depression in Flint. It was later used in classes on American history at the University of Michigan, where he had earned a bachelor's and a master's degree. Another of his books, The Situation in Flushing (1965), concerned a boy's love of trains in the early 1900s.
After Army service in World War II, Mr. Love headed the team that wrote military histories of the war in the Pacific. He then turned to freelance writing. His book War Is a Private Affair (1959) was called "the finest book of its kind since Tales of the South Pacific" by Charles Poore in a review for The Times.
As a reaction to leaner days, Mr. Love dined in more restaurants than most food critics do. Beginning in 1952, he systematically ate his way through a large number of the restaurants listed in the Manhattan Yellow Pages, from ABC Carol Downtown Health Foods to Zorba.
"Sometimes you end up in some pretty awful places," he recalled in an interview in 1973. "When I started I asked a cop in Penn Station for a recommendation. He told me to look in the Yellow Pages. I did and picked A La Fourchette, the first one on the list. I had such a good dinner, I tried the same thing the next week." Twelve years and $18,000 later, he said he had sampled 1,750 of the 5,595 restaurants listed. "I don't monkey with one-arm joints or luncheonettes," he explained.
Mr. Love passed away from a heart attack in his home in Flint, Michigan. He was 78 at the time of his death.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
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July 17, 2022Local histories, often invaluable to both archive and remember the past, often make for dry reading. At worst, they can be a recitation of names and dates anchored in little detail of the *experience* of living in a specific place and time. Love's memoir, published following his piece de resistance, Subways are for Sleeping, should not be confused for such a history. It is a vivid and often exciting account of small town life at the turn of the 20th century, told through the eyes (and with all the biases and interests of) a young boy. It also does not let the truth get in the way of a good story!
Be that as it may, Love's account of life in Flushing, Michigan a hundred years ago probably does more to illuminate the cultural and economic circumstances, to say nothing of the gossips and intrigues of this little town than many more factually accurate pieces. I lived in Flushing myself from 1990 to 1997, and my family has deep-ish roots there: my grandmother was born around the time the book takes place, and lived in a house a couple blocks from the author. Her parents were also known about the village, with a road just west of town being named after my Great Grandpa Turner, a well-known electrician in town.
While Love's memoir doesn't mention any of my family by name, it still gave me a little spark of frisson to picture them among the accounts of youngsters sledding down the steep unpaved roads, the telegrapher who conspires with a local recluse to leverage a whiskey distillery, the rivalries between local barbers. My grandma remembered Joe Gage, one of Flushing's most popular residents, and, as a Black man living in an almost exclusively white community, someone keenly attuned to its promises and contradictions. Naturally, Love also writes about Gage at length, even through the last paragraph of a book filled with probably a hundred distinct characters.
If anything, Love's book is illuminating in the 21st century because it teaches us that the "old fashioned" world we further outgrow with seemingly every generation was itself a transient and ever-transforming moment. The elders of Love's Flushing came into a wilderness recently taken from the Sauks and Chippewa (Ojibwe), and could not have conceived of the rail networks that defined his youth, bringing commerce and wealth to Flushing and connecting it to the outside world. Likewise, Love's parents could scarcely conceive of the world that would succeed that of trains and telegraphs. Toward the end of the book, Love wonders what his mother would have thought of jet planes. Love himself died in 1990, and I wonder what he would have made of the Internet.
This is a highly nostalgic, entertaining, and illuminating book, but if you're alert to it, it also raises compelling questions about stories and memories, the nature of progress and community, and what continuity might even mean in an era of constant transformation.
Be that as it may, Love's account of life in Flushing, Michigan a hundred years ago probably does more to illuminate the cultural and economic circumstances, to say nothing of the gossips and intrigues of this little town than many more factually accurate pieces. I lived in Flushing myself from 1990 to 1997, and my family has deep-ish roots there: my grandmother was born around the time the book takes place, and lived in a house a couple blocks from the author. Her parents were also known about the village, with a road just west of town being named after my Great Grandpa Turner, a well-known electrician in town.
While Love's memoir doesn't mention any of my family by name, it still gave me a little spark of frisson to picture them among the accounts of youngsters sledding down the steep unpaved roads, the telegrapher who conspires with a local recluse to leverage a whiskey distillery, the rivalries between local barbers. My grandma remembered Joe Gage, one of Flushing's most popular residents, and, as a Black man living in an almost exclusively white community, someone keenly attuned to its promises and contradictions. Naturally, Love also writes about Gage at length, even through the last paragraph of a book filled with probably a hundred distinct characters.
If anything, Love's book is illuminating in the 21st century because it teaches us that the "old fashioned" world we further outgrow with seemingly every generation was itself a transient and ever-transforming moment. The elders of Love's Flushing came into a wilderness recently taken from the Sauks and Chippewa (Ojibwe), and could not have conceived of the rail networks that defined his youth, bringing commerce and wealth to Flushing and connecting it to the outside world. Likewise, Love's parents could scarcely conceive of the world that would succeed that of trains and telegraphs. Toward the end of the book, Love wonders what his mother would have thought of jet planes. Love himself died in 1990, and I wonder what he would have made of the Internet.
This is a highly nostalgic, entertaining, and illuminating book, but if you're alert to it, it also raises compelling questions about stories and memories, the nature of progress and community, and what continuity might even mean in an era of constant transformation.
December 16, 2020
I learned of Edmund Love when the University of Michigan Alumni Association profiled him in their magazine. Admittedly, I'd never heard of the man. But, the profile was interesting, as was the description of one of his books that they highlighted: Hanging On, Or How to Get Through a Depression and Enjoy Life. This book is a case-in-point for why one should "never judge a book by its cover." Despite all appearances, this book is nothing at all to do with psychology; it is, rather, a memoir of Love's time as a Wolverine during the Great Depression. I loved this book. I loved it to the point that I set out in search of other books Love had written and struck gold with The Situation in Flushing. This latter book is another memoir, this one focused on his childhood in the small town of Flushing, Michigan. In Situation, Love brings alive the little Flushing of his youth, telling tale after tale of adventure and occasionally. His prose is such that you feel you are not reading a book, but that he is speaking to you; I was reminded of the stories my great-grandfather used to tell of his own adventures in another small Michigan town during the same period (1910s and early 20s). Although Love was best known for Subways are for Sleeping, I prefer Hanging On... and Situation, both of which are humorous, nostalgic and, frankly, quite lovely.
August 31, 2025
I've read and reread this numerous times. Great book.
November 4, 2019
It was a delightful story of early Americana in the Michigan town of Flushing. The author weaved characters, events and history. I felt I would have liked to live in that town in that time. Heart warming!
October 4, 2023
A great read! This is an excellent look back at a small town evolving into modernity, through the eyes a young boy. Stories of a small town with its own trials and tribulations.
May 6, 2016
As a result of this independent reading unit, I finally understand the importance of selecting a book that is meaningful. In the midst of previous reading units I have found myself struggling to stay interested as well as having no desire to continue reading. Fortunately, this time around was different; I chose to read The Situation In Flushing by Edmund G Love. I figured I would give it a shot primarily because I live and have grown up in Flushing, I made the correct choice. Now I can grasp why choosing a book you are interested in is the most important factor in enjoying reading.
To sum up The Situation In Flushing, I chose the quote,” If I were asked to put my finger on the exact moment that the village of Flushing changed from a traditional, rural American community to a modern town, I would have to say that it was on the afternoon that Bob Hart pulled the switch on the fire whistle.” This quotation perfectly summarizes this book because it has a direct connection to the underlying theme, each and every character, history, as well as my own life. The theme of The Situation In Flushing is “Progress is inevitable” or perhaps simply watching a rural town grow; The quotation I chose directly mentions modernization of Flushing. Next up, each character. As Flushing becomes modern, all of its residents must follow behind, or risk being “old fashioned”. Finally my own experience, every day of my life I am downtown Flushing for one reason or another and am able to see the exact changes Ed speaks of as well as older relics such as the buildings.
Edmund G Love has successfully captured everything appealing about a small rural town through first-hand experience and transferred it flawlessly to paper. Ed covers from the time before Flushing had lights or cars to the 1960’s. This book is an excellent adventure of a kid growing up in Flushing (something I did recently) but far prior to true modern times. If you are in store for a very enjoyable history lesson through the eyes of a 6-year old, The Situation In Flushing by Edmund G Love should be your next good read.
To sum up The Situation In Flushing, I chose the quote,” If I were asked to put my finger on the exact moment that the village of Flushing changed from a traditional, rural American community to a modern town, I would have to say that it was on the afternoon that Bob Hart pulled the switch on the fire whistle.” This quotation perfectly summarizes this book because it has a direct connection to the underlying theme, each and every character, history, as well as my own life. The theme of The Situation In Flushing is “Progress is inevitable” or perhaps simply watching a rural town grow; The quotation I chose directly mentions modernization of Flushing. Next up, each character. As Flushing becomes modern, all of its residents must follow behind, or risk being “old fashioned”. Finally my own experience, every day of my life I am downtown Flushing for one reason or another and am able to see the exact changes Ed speaks of as well as older relics such as the buildings.
Edmund G Love has successfully captured everything appealing about a small rural town through first-hand experience and transferred it flawlessly to paper. Ed covers from the time before Flushing had lights or cars to the 1960’s. This book is an excellent adventure of a kid growing up in Flushing (something I did recently) but far prior to true modern times. If you are in store for a very enjoyable history lesson through the eyes of a 6-year old, The Situation In Flushing by Edmund G Love should be your next good read.
January 23, 2016
I enjoyed reading snatches of this book over the holidays. Thankfully it was written much like numerous short stories! With his remembrances as a young boy in love with trains, Edmund Love gives us humorous and very human glimpses of earlier days in Flushing, Michigan at the beginning of the 20th century. His memories of a simpler time were delightful!
May 6, 2011
This reminded me of Mark Twain stories. The author has wonderful characters and his style of writing is straightforward and descriptive. I enjoyed the book - the history of an area known to me and the people who made it prosper.
June 9, 2016
The authors reminisces about growing up in small town Michigan during and after WWI, a time marked most clearly by the slow death of the railroads and the concomitant birth of car and commuter culture.
October 13, 2014
This was a wonderful coming of age book from the town that is literally next door.
March 29, 2016
A warm and charming memoir of the first 12 years of Edmund Love's life in Flushing, MI. His descriptions of the town, his family, and his neighbors are humorous and insightful.
July 24, 2012
A delightful book for reading aloud as well.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews