The Living Great Lakes is part of a burgeoning genre of books that relate the history and geography of a region by tying it to journeys of the author. My favorite example of the genre is Jonathan Raban's Passage to Juneau, about the Inside Passage of British Columbia and Alaska. The Living Great Lakes is another excellent one.
I bought the book at a bookshop/cafe in Munising, MI, on the shores of Lake Superior. We had just watched a 1000-ft ship travel through the locks at Sault St Marie and were about to sail along the Pictured Rocks National Seashore and to visit Mackinac Island. In other words, I was reading about the region we were traveling in.
Dennis describes three trips he has taken through the Great Lakes: as a participant in the Chicago to Mackinac sailing race, in a voyageur canoe on Lake Superior, and as part of the crew delivering a schooner from Traverse Bay to Bar Harbor Maine. He is able to combine historical narrative, natural history, and personal observation in a seamless way that enhances the feeling of what the area feels like today rather than as a history lesson.
I bought the book at a bookshop/cafe in Munising, MI, on the shores of Lake Superior. We had just watched a 1000-ft ship travel through the locks at Sault St Marie and were about to sail along the Pictured Rocks National Seashore and to visit Mackinac Island. In other words, I was reading about the region we were traveling in.
Dennis describes three trips he has taken through the Great Lakes: as a participant in the Chicago to Mackinac sailing race, in a voyageur canoe on Lake Superior, and as part of the crew delivering a schooner from Traverse Bay to Bar Harbor Maine. He is able to combine historical narrative, natural history, and personal observation in a seamless way that enhances the feeling of what the area feels like today rather than as a history lesson.
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