Books Received

Abstract

Books Received Edwin M. Bradley Jerry Dennis. Up North in Michigan: A Portrait of Place in Four Seasons. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2021. Pp. 177. Illustrations. Hardcover: $24.95. Jerry Dennis, the award-winning Traverse City-based nature writer, brings more of his evocative prose to Up North in Michigan, a collection of short essays that celebrates the natural history and scenic wonder of northern lower Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Dennis explores the territory in every season and kind of weather, on foot, on bicycle, and in canoes and cars. "After a lifetime of exploring it," he writes about his home territory, "my appreciation just keeps growing." (55) The essay titles are well chosen—pieces such as "Bird Camp Memories," "The Color of Steelhead," "Summer Work and High Water," and "The Overlooked Forest"—evocatively clue the reader in as to what's ahead. Particularly amusing is "The Rules of Cottage Living," which will connect with anyone who has spent more than a season or two in a warm-weather getaway. ________ Bob Hunter. Road to Wapatomica: A Modern Search for the Old Northwest. Columbus, OH: Culloden Books, 2021. Pp. 438. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Maps. Paperback: $32.95. In Ohio, Bob Hunter might best be known as the Columbus Dispatch sports columnist of many years and chronicler of Buckeye football history in multiple books. However, he is also interested in general American history, as evidenced by his tomes on Ohioan James Thurber and on Columbus as a city. In Road to Wapatomica, his journey—physical as well as literary—through the vestiges of the Old Northwest, Hunter begins by wending his way through his native Ohio and ends up in northeastern Minnesota. Of course, he spends much time in Michigan, with stops at Fort Detroit, Fort St. Joseph, St. Ignace, Sault Ste. Marie, and elsewhere. Hunter knows how to tell a good story, and his detailed accounts of the past are nicely supplemented by keen observations of the present state of these sites, where human intrusion can evoke sadness. Then there's the time Hunter watches a little boy visiting Fort Michilimackinac reply to a tour guide's question about the British king during the American Revolution with an enthusiastic answer: "Elvis Presley!" [End Page 167] ________ Joe Niese with Bob Dorais. Gus Dorais: Gridiron Innovator, All-American and Hall of Fame Coach. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2018. Pp. 254. Appendices. Bibliography. Illustrations. Index. Notes. Paperback: $25. Charles "Gus" Dorais is an undervalued figure in football history. He is generally linked with the famed Knute Rockne as the Notre Dame duo who revolutionized the forward pass in 1913 (Dorais was the quarterback, Rockne the receiver). But Dorais played a significant role in sports within his adopted home of Michigan. He was head coach of the University of Detroit when it was a regional, and sometimes national, power from 1925 to 1942. He coached the Detroit Lions, although not as fruitfully, during the mid-1940s. (Dorais also served four terms on the Detroit Common Council.) A pioneer of offensive strategy, Dorais played with and coached against most of the football legends of his time. Joe Niese, with the assistance of Gus's grandson Bob, offers a well-researched, informative account of the player-coach's life. Gus Dorais: Gridiron Innovator, All-American and Hall of Fame Coach provides a view into the man behind the coach's whistle while telling a story long overdue. [End Page 168] Edwin M. Bradley Historical Society of Michigan Copyright © 2022 Historical Society of Michigan