Chronicling the author's 10,000-mile "Great Lakes Circle Tour," this travel memoir seeks to answer a burning question: Is there a Great Lakes culture, and if so, what is it? Largely associated with the Midwest, the Great Lakes region actually has a culture that transcends the border between the United States and Canada. United by a love of encased meats, hockey, beer, snowmobiling, deer hunting, and classic-rock power ballads, the folks in Detroit have more in common with citizens in Windsor, Ontario, than those in Wichita, Kansas—while Toronto residents have more in common with Chicagoans than Montreal's population. Much more than a typical armchair travel book, this humorous cultural exploration is filled with quirky people and unusual places that prove the obscure is far more interesting than the well known.
The Third Coast
Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters, and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists of the Great Lakes
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 10, 2011 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781569765050
- File size: 3704 KB
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781569765050
- File size: 3704 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 1, 2008
Southern pride is everywhere, from the radio to the presidency, but not much time or media coverage is devoted to northern pride, the essence of McClellands book oriented on the Great Lakes and the lands that surround themthe Freshwater Nation. Crossing borders and circumnavigating the lakes, McClelland made an almost 10,000-mile journey from Chicago to Wisconsin to upper Michigan to (via Isle Royale) Minnesota to Ontario to New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and through lower Michigan to Michigan City, Indiana. His conversations with such characters met en route as Yuri the sailor and Oil Can Eddie constitute one of the books definite pleasures. Visits to the drunkest city in America (Milwaukee), the worlds largest barber pole, and natural wonders and their environs (Downtown Niagara Falls . . . looks like a carnival that has put down roots and incorporated itself); chats with Canadians who remain staunch Loyalists (to the crown, that is); and an REO SpeedwagonStyx concert at a county fair near Lake Erie are others this hearty, good-natured homage affords.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)
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