The Living Great Lakes

Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas

by Jerry Dennis

Find this book on WorldCat

Thomas Dunne Books, New York, 2003

[...] The Living Great Lakes is the most complete book ever written about the history, nature, and science of these remarkable lakes at the heart of North America. From the geological forces that formed them to the industrial atrocities that nearly destroyed them, to the greatest environmental success stories of our time, the lakes are portrayed in all their complexity. The book, however, is much more than just history. It is also the story of the lakes as told by biologists, fishermen, sailors, and others whom the author grew to know while traveling with them on boats and hiking with them on beaches and islands. The book is also the story of a personal journey. It is the narrative of a six-week voyage through the lakes and beyond as a crewmember on a tallmasted schooner, and a memoir of a lifetime spent on and near the lakes. Through storms and fog, on remote shores and city waterfronts, the author explores the five Great Lakes in all seasons and moods and discovers that they and their connecting waters -- including the Erie Canal, the Hudson River, and the East Coast from New York to Maine -- offer a surprising and bountiful view of America. [...] (via WorldCat)

Jerry Dennis has lived most of his life in northern Michigan and has earned his living as an independent writer since 1986. His essays, poems, and short fiction have appeared in more than 100 publications, including The New York Times, Smithsonian, Audubon, American Way, Gray’s Sporting Journal, PANK, and Michigan Quarterly Review. His books, many of them illustrated by artist Glenn Wolff, are widely acclaimed, have won numerous awards, and have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, German, Portuguese, Czech, and Korean. Jerry has been awarded many honors, including the Michigan Author of the Year Award, the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Award from the University of Louisville’s School of Arts and Sciences, the Great Lakes Culture Award from Michigan State University, and the Sigurd Olson Nature Writing Award. He is a frequent guest speaker at universities and conferences and is on the permanent faculty of the University of Michigan’s Bear River Writers Conference, where he teaches creative non-fiction and the sense of place. He and his wife, Gail, live near the shore of Lake Michigan not far from Traverse City, Michigan. (via jerrydennis.net)

Learn more about Jerry Dennis and The Living Great Lakes at: https://jerrydennis.net/