Michigan: A Bicentennial History

by Bruce Catton and Catton

Book Overview

The idea that abundance was inexhaustible--that fatal Michigan word, as the author calls it--dominated thinking about the state from the days when Commandant Cadillac's soldiers arrived at Detroit until his name became a brand of car. Viewed in this light, Michigan is a case study of all America, and Americans in any state will be fascinated. In a colorful, dramatic past, Mr. Catton finds understanding of where we are in the present and what the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393301753
• ISBN13: 9780393301755
• Release Date: December 1984
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 236 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A good history of Michigan

A good history of Michigan, but don't expect a lot of pictures.Not a complete history, and some things are glossed over. But still a very worthwhile read.

Yes! M!ch!gan!

Catton covers two centuries in 11 chapters and just under 200 pages. The book is literally crammed with information in a mishmash of military acquisitions, missionaries, Native American tribes (at least a dozen are mentioned), woods runners, capitalists and (of coarse) politicians. However, Catton makes good use of brevity: he does not waste print on the minutiae of strategic military maneuverings as so many historians do, but rather he carefully selects and explores the details of the social and technological events that shaped the territory, the state and the nation (the "open shop" lumber industry, federal land grant programs, the Toledo strip, "wildcat" banks and the Great Railroad Conspiracy). As historians (and Michiganders) go, Catton is a romantic, and even melodramatic at times, but never boring. This book is thoroughly enjoyable.

Bruce Catton knows my Michigan

I live in Ohio, but I was raised in Michigan. Reading this book once a year (as well as the MORNING TRAIN) reminds me of my place in the universe. If you want to know about Michigan, Bruce Catton delievers.