Michigan: A History of the Great Lakes State

by Bruce A. Rubenstein

"The fifth edition of A History of the Great Lakes State presents an update of the best college-level survey of Michigan history, covering the pre-Columbian period to the present. Represents the best-selling survey history of Michigan Includes updates and enhancements reflecting the latest historic scholarship, along with the new chapter 'Reinventing Michigan' Expanded coverage includes the socio-economic impact of tribal casino gaming on Michigan's Native American population; environmental,agricultural, and educational issues; recent developments in the Jimmy Hoffa mystery, and collegiate and professional sports Delivered in an accessible narrative style that is entertaining as well as informative, with ample illustrations, photos, and maps Now available in digital formats as well as print "--

Genres: History, Nonfiction, School

347 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[CJ Gerardy]

An intense page-turner from start to finish, with a twist ending that will leave you SPEECHLESS.

[Paul Lunger]

With "Michigan: A History of the Great Lakes State", Bruce Rubenstein & Lawrence E. Ziewacz take we the reader on a tour of the history of the Wolverine state which is at times more interesting than even I had realized. The book itself does a decent job of at the beginning focusing on the Indians who made the state home & the challenges that Michigan faced from those early days under multiple country rule as well as it's compromise way to enter the US. At over 300 pages, Rubenstein & Ziewacz go into a decent in depth look at all of the quirks (both good & bad) that make Michigan what it is as well as explaining the challenges that are a hallmark of the state as well & to the tenacity of the people who call that state home. As a non-native of "that state up north" (as we call it in Ohio), this is a book that will have anyone taking a closer look at the state & understanding it in a way that I never did before. It's also for me a reason to go back someday to visit to explore more of this state & understand it better than I do now.

[Jane]

This book was ok. I maybe should give it 3 stars but I think the perfect number would be 2.5. I really wanted to know more about the history of Michigan as well as some of the facts that I, as a relatively new Michigander, don’t know (whereas most native Michiganders do). I had two choices - this book or a college textbook which appeared to be not at all the kind of book for someone who is just interested in finding information. However, this book is fairly light-weight and jumps around a lot, never really offering much depth to anything. On the other hand, I did learn things. But at the same time I used a lot of what I read as a starting point for searches on the computer to find out more. I’m glad I read it and I did learn many interesting things; but overall I believe that it could have been a bit more researched and better written.

[Ryan]

The first half is pretty barren, but it develops into a pretty decent people’s history. Has some remarkable anecdotes I’d never heard before, from the Mormon cult-leader who tried to take over part of the state before getting assassinated to the crazy frequency of strikes during the war effort and why women began getting employed in factories during WWII (it wasn’t *just* that men were shooting nazis; the government had also decided they didn’t want any more immigrants coming to michigan or working at that time (although this did not apply to the prisoners of war brought to work in Michigan!)).

[Clare]

Read this book for a class and was surprised how much I enjoyed the writing style. That being said, this does feel more like a textbook than a light read, but enjoying chapters in chunks really helped me digest the material.

[Polski Urban]

Great read for history buffs and anyone living in Michigan

[Paula Nevins]

Comprehensive and an enjoyable read.

[J.M. Hushour]

Project Read-a-History-of-Every-State-in-Order-of-Statehood #26

[Samantha]

Pretty good if you want just the overview of Michigan history! I would recommend to anyone who loves to learn more about state history.

[Amanda]

This book is nicely organized, but sometimes the authors' biases in favor or against various michigan political figures and movements shows and is annoying.

[Angie]

Pretty good read for a textbook! I never felt like I didn't understand it, and it had so much interesting information it wasn't hard to read the assigned chapters.

[Heidi]

Jumped around quite a bit. So many places and names I couldn't keep them all straight. Had to read it for class which made it more boring.

[Sarah Grace Grzy]

Brief review to come