Michigan: A History

 

Having read nary a word of Michigan history since the required 5th grade study of our great state (well, perhaps I am exaggerating just a tad), I decided it was high time I stepped over to the fantastic Michigan section of the Library to bone up. Yet as I stared at our long and quite overly stuffed Michigan shelf, the myriad spines began to look and feel a bit overwhelming. So I did what any wise reader would do and asked a librarian for help.

Specifically I was looking for a history that did not get bogged down in dates and details, an overview if you will and as a lover of literature, I wanted it to read like a story as well. Within a mere ten seconds of my query, I had the late Bruce Catton's "Michigan: A History" in my hand. Now I was a  trifle skeptical at first as the book is a mere 196 pages and has an awful photo on the cover to boot but, knowing that it was penned by a fellow Petsokey-ite who had also happened to win the Pulitzer Prize, I cracked the cover anyways. And I was instantly hooked.

Just as I had hoped for, "Michigan: A History" does not dawdle too greatly on the details but instead traces the state's overarching themes and it does so in style. Catton is both a romantic and a great writer and these traits lead to a history that reads a bit like a ballet that utilizes one specific melody to tie together diverse movements. By this I mean that Catton, rather than simply describing the inhabitants and industry of each of the state's periods instead, posits the notion that the history of our state, and indeed our nation is based on a cycle of wholesale exploitation of apparently boundless resources, the inevitable let down when the resource of the time dries up, and the ingenuity that springs forth.

It is with this refrain that Catton is able to tie together the fur trade, logging, mining, the railroads, and the auto industry as well as all of the other economic, social, political, and environmental twists and turns of our beloved home. It is the cycle of boom and bust Catton claims, that ties us together as people and ties us to this state.

Altogether it is a fantastic and sometimes fanciful take on this wonderful place and it is for that very reason, that this was the perfect history for me.