New Book Releases

Along the Indiana border in Southwest Michigan lies Cass County, a place rich in historical significance.

Nearly one thousand freedom seekers traveled through the area on their way to Canada. The first rendition of “The Old Rugged Cross” was sung in a local church before it became one of the best-loved gospel hymns in America. The first stop on the Orphan Train, which moved street orphans from New York City to homes across the Midwest, was in Dowagiac, and the invention of Kitty Litter by local Edward Lowe allowed cat lovers the world over to finally bring their furry friends in from the cold.

Author Rose Mary Wood commemorates the events and individuals who left their mark on Cass County and the world.

Casting a legacy

Long before automobiles made Detroit the Motor City, the city boasted a flourishing and diverse industrial economy, albeit on a more modest scale. Among the myriad industries that defined the nineteenth-century city, none held greater significance or broader influence than stove fabrication. Three manufacturers—Detroit Stove Works, Michigan Stove Company and the Peninsular Stove Company—dominated this sector, collectively contributing more than 10 percent of all cast-iron stoves produced and distributed throughout North America. At the forefront of this triumph were Jeremiah and James Dwyer, whose vision and ingenuity played pivotal roles in shaping the industry’s success.

Historian Gerald Van Dusen explores the key role that this early industry played in laying the groundwork and facilitating the production of automobiles.

Local Luminaries, Famous Passersby & Everyone in Between

Since its founding in the early 1800s, Kalamazoo has welcomed a variety of notable characters who have shaped the community’s legacy in their own special way. Some, like Orville Gibson and Derek Jeter, are nationally recognized, while others, such as Sue Hubbell or Donald Bonevich, may be lesser known. Abraham Lincoln and Flora Temple briefly passed through town, and Mary Jackson and Gwen Frostic were among those who came here to attend college. Others, like Darwin and Opal Brown (aka Santa and Mrs. Claus) or Gene Rhodes (aka Gene the Pumpkin Man), were lifetime residents.

From founding fathers to early innovators, groundbreakers to entrepreneurs, artists to authors and athletes to entertainers, author Dianna Higgs Stampfler celebrates fifty figures in Kalamazoo-area history.

The origin of the name Southfield is not conclusively known, but it is surmised that the area gained its name because it was located in the “fields” south of Bloomfield Township. For much of its settled history, Southfield was a rural, agricultural community; however, that changed when Detroit experienced phenomenal growth in the early 20th century.

As Detroit’s borders strained to contain the influx of people and spurred by the development of the massive Northland Mall, Southfield rapidly developed in the mid-century. With its central location and connection to other major cities via the newly built John C. Lodge and Southfield Freeways, Southfield was also appealing to businesses. Fueled by the people and wealth flowing into the community, Southfield became an epicenter of the burgeoning Mid-Century Modern movement in architecture. Later, Southfield developed a reputation as a welcoming and tolerant place, and today, residents take pride in the highly diverse community.

Part of Belt's Neighborhood Guidebook Series, The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook is an exploration of the Motor City's hidden corners told by the people who live and work there.

It seems like everybody in Detroit thinks they know the city's neighborhoods, but because there are so many, their characteristics often become muddled and the stories that define them are often lost. Edited by Aaron Foley, the author of How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass, The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook is a genuinely felt, wide-ranging collection that gives unique perspective on a city that many people think they have figured out. A homegrown portrait about the lesser-known parts of the city, it showcases the voices and people who make up:

- Cass Corridor

- West Village

- Minock Park

- Warrendale

- Hamtramck

- and almost every other spot in the city.

With short essays and poems by Zoe Villegas, Drew Philip, Hakeem Weatherspoon, Marsha Music, Ian Thibodeau, and dozens of others.

In this guidebook, Detroiters will recognize their hometown and the stories it tells, while readers from outside Detroit will get an insiders' look at an oft-misunderstood American city.

In one of Curbed: Detroit's Top 11 Books about Detroit, Aaron Foley, editor of The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook, offers the definitive inside look at one of America's most talked-about and least understood cities.

With a wry sense of humor, Foley, a native Detroiter, walks you through the most difficult questions about the Motor City, offering seven simple rules for making it there. Perfect for coastal transplants, wary suburbanites, unwitting gentrifiers, or start-up disruptors, this recently updated guidebook offers advice on everything from the glories of Vernors ginger ale to how to rehab a house to how to not sound like an uninformed racist. In twenty short chapters, Foley walks you through:

- How Detroiters do business

- The unofficial guide to enjoying Faygo

- How to be gay in Detroit

- How to raise a Detroit kid

- How to party in Detroit.

Both hilarious and insightful, this no-frills look at Motown is written for those who live there but also, as Vanity Fair put it, for anyone participating in contemporary global urbanization who would like to avoid behaving like a subjugating dick.

From captivating tales of lingering lumber barons to lovelorn ladies and chilling stories of murder, Michigan’s hotels hold secrets that will send shivers down the spine.

Ghostly apparitions and mysterious whispers have terrified guests for years at Petoskey’s Terrace Inn and The House of Ludington in Escanaba, while eerie occurrences and disembodied voices wake guests in the night at Kalamazoo’s Henderson Castle Inn. Once named America’s Most Haunted City, Mackinac Island has enough ghosts to keep visitors sleepless for a lifetime.

Embark on a spine-chilling journey through the Mitten State with Haunted Flint author Roxanne Rhoads as she unveils the spooky history of Michigan’s most haunted hotels and inns.

The Rotary Club of Plymouth, Michigan, founded on March 7, 1924, developed a long-standing tradition of fundraising through its popular annual chicken barbeque. / This event began in 1956 to raise funds to purchase playground equipment. Beneficiaries of monies raised are as far reaching as student scholarships and exchange programs, community park improvements, targeted special projects, and international humanitarian aid.

Author Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens is executive director of the Plymouth Historical Museum, a retired US Marine major, and author of four other Arcadia publications. Author Ellen Elliott, a local historian, is executive director of Friends of the Penn, manager of the Penn Theatre in Plymouth, and author of one other Arcadia publication.

Murder and mystery haunt the shadowy corners of the Victorian Era in Southwest Michigan.

Decades after his supposed death in 1846, a litigious bachelor was discovered to have been buried alive. In 1865, a Battle Creek woman, yearning for her lover, used Spiritualism to conceal poisoning her three children. An 1883 unsolved quadruple homicide near Jackson caused two suicides, one attempted suicide and two assassination attempts. In 1891, a ten-year-old girl adopted from the State School in Coldwater one morning was found dead in an icy river two counties away that same afternoon.

Researcher and author Michael Delaware unfurls these and other stories that shocked Michigan and the nation over a century ago.

They used arsenic to obtain chemical divorces and strychnine to settle scores. They bludgeoned husbands to make way for lovers. They flattened love triangles with blunt objects. They murdered for money, for revenge, for pleasure.

Meet the heiress who just could not take "no" for an answer from her mechanic lover; meet the two nursing home workers whose deadly game ended after the murders of six residents; meet the three sirens who lured a wealthy banker to the strip poker game of death. And many, many other Michigan mistresses of mayhem in this collection of true crime tales.

Building the Tradition

Most University of Michigan basketball fans know about the school's success during the Cazzie Russell era, and how the Wolverines built on that foundation, rising ever higher until they reached the pinnacle with their 1989 NCAA championship. But few know the stories behind the headlines. For example, how did Michigan coach Dave Strack, who admitted that U-M basketball was 'bad' when he became the coach, land a player of Russell's caliber? And how did Michigan find Russell's perfect complement, a future All-American who was virtually unknown ?

Using fresh interviews with dozens of coaches and players – including Russell, Rudy Tomjanovich, Johnny Orr, Bill Frieder, Glen Rice and many others – author Mike Rosenbaum digs behind the scenes to reveal the fascinating stories behind Michigan’s basketball successes from 1960 to 1989.

Over the centuries, residents of Michiana have never wanted for superb dining choices.

Once a stagecoach stop, The Old Tavern Inn has been open since the time of President Andrew Jackson. Tosi's is known for its gorgeous starlit garden and gastronomic traditions stretching back almost a century, and The Volcano was amongst the first pizzerias in the country. These restaurants and other classic eateries remain part of the thriving local food scene. But the doors of others have long been closed. Some like Mead's Chicken Nook and Robertson's Tea Room linger in memories while The Owl Saloon, O. A. Clark's Lunch Rooms, and Lobster Lounge are long lost to time.

Award-winning author Jane Simon Ammeson leads a culinary road trip through Northern Indiana and Southwestern Michigan.

Ghost stories from Motor City have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!/

em>Welcome to the spooky streets of Motown!/em>

Stay Alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms.

Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see Detroit forever, and have you sleeping with the lights on!

Ghost stories from Michigan's Upper Peninsula have never been so creepy, fun, and full of mystery!/

em>Welcome to the spooky streets and shores of Michigan's Upper Peninsula!/em>

Stay Alert! Ghosts lurk around every corner. Even the most unexpected places might be haunted by wandering phantoms.

Did you know many ghost ships, and their ghostly crews, sail along the Upper Peninsula's shores? Or that a book-loving ghost haunts the library in Marquette? Can you believe that the former lighthouse keeper at Seul Choix still comes to work...even from beyond the grave?

Pulled right from history, these ghostly tales will change the way you see Michigan's Upper Peninsula forever, and have you sleeping with the lights on!/p

Across the state of Michigan, uneasy spirits stir in what should be their final resting places.

At Reynolds Cemetery in Jackson, the ghost of Eunice White, traveling from nearby Woodlawn Cemetery, can be seen visiting her father's grave. A mysterious lady in white roams the center of Lovejoy Cemetery in Durand. An apparition of the pacing man appears at Mount Joy in St. Johns. And only the bravest dare visit the Upper Peninsula's Mission Hill Cemetery, where a Native American spirit might appear to point them in the right direction.

Author and paranormal investigator Bradley P. Mikulka leads a tour of some of the Wolverine State's many haunted cemeteries.

Explore the spirits of Michigan's watering holes

From the picturesque shores of Manistique to the crystalline waters of Diamond Lake in Cassopolis, Michigan overflows with pubs and bars swirling with chilling legends. The decrepit ghost of Wattie Mullins welcomes visitors into Coonan's Irish Hub. The spirit of a black-eyed girl has been spotted playing on the steps of the C-Pub at Canterbury Village, and her appearance has left many feeling shaken and stirred . A mysterious soul inhabits a bizarre doll at The Agitated Grape and comes alive when you least expect it.

Local author and paranormal investigator Nicole Beauchamp leads this eerie literary road trip perfect for anyone who likes to eat, drink and be scary.

Explore the history, architecture, and people, from the very rich to the very poor, who have chosen Woodmere Cemeteryto be their final resting place.

In 1867, a roomful of men gathered in the office of a noted attorney to discuss Detroit's need for a rural cemetery. They decided to form an association and invested their own money to purchase a plot of land that had once been occupied by Native Americans and then French settlers, a few miles from the heart of the city.

They chose this heavily wooded area because it offered many acres of land that could accommodate the growing need for more burial space, and it became the cornerstone of one of the city's oldest and most historic cemeteries, Woodmere Cemetery. Cemetery acreage has been bought and sold, and buildings on the grounds have been raised and later razed. Funeral procedures have changed, as well as cemetery ownership. Still, Woodmerehas remained one of Detroit's most beautiful treasures, where visitors can take a historical step back into time.

Through archival images, Detroit's Woodmere Cemeterytakes a look at the movers and shakers of Detroit found in these bucolic grounds and glimpses the ordinary citizens who have lived and died through extraordinary circumstances.

A fascinating look at Ann Arbor's heroic African-American communitiy's journey and progress. A must-have for African-American and Michigan history enthusiasts.

The black community in the Ann Arbor area includes Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Second Baptist Church, Brown Chapel, theAnn Arbor Community Center, the old Jones School, and other well-remembered places.

The photographs representing this history follow the progress of the African American community from 1857, when the Rev. J. M. Gregory gathered together a small congregation at 504 High Street, to 1996, when Dr. Homer Neal assumed leadership of the University of Michigan as its interim president. This integral but little-known part of Ann Arbor area history is preserved in Another Ann Arbor.

Nestled among northern Michigan's pine trees in Roscommon County is the state's largest inland lake, Houghton Lake.

Lumbermen made use of its 20,044 acres to move timber. They banked logs on the lake, the headwaters of the Muskegon River, during the winter cutting season and drove them downriver in the spring to southwestern lumber yards. As Houghton Lake's reputation for good fishing grew, visitors came to try their luck. By the mid-20th century, Houghton Lake became one of the most popular destinations in Michigan. Now, the area is known for its bars, resorts, and winter festival Tip-Up Town USA. Water sports, summer cottages, and nightlife still attract thousands of visitors from Lower Michigan and surrounding states today.

In over 200 rare and historic images, the sotry of Marquette comes to life.

This fascinating pictorial history of Marquette, Michigan, marks the occasion of the city's sesquicentennial celebration. Containing over 200 historic images, including photographs, lithographs, and maps from almost every decade of the city's history, Marquette delves into the physical setting, economic life, architecture, weather, popular activities, and lives of the people that have made Marquette what it is today. Originally a boom town, Marquette was a convenient shipping point created to service the iron ore mines in the area. Many settlers with high spirits and energy were attracted to Marquette with hopes for a big chance at success. By the time the mines faded, however, these settlershad already built a city of enduring importance--a vital and attractive center of commerce, education, and culture.

From its humble beginning as the Hopkin Club to its current status in the 21st century, the Scarab Club in Detroit focuses on fine, performing, and technical arts and is still housed in its original 1928 building.

On the cusp of its centennial anniversary, the Scarab Club (founded in 1907) weaves itself into the city of Detroit's and the state of Michigan's artistic cultural heritage, a historic local, state, and national landmark. The club's exhibitions, programs, and costumed balls, the prominent visitors' and members' signatures on the second-floor beams, and the architectural decor of the clubhouse combine for its unique distinction. From its inception, the Scarab Club's mission has been to educate and enlighten its members and the community in the arts. The organization maintains a clubhouse for the exhibition of arts, provides facilities for artists for the advancement of their craft, and for other activities directed toward the education in the arts.""

From a peaceful farming community to a thriving commercial suburb, Novi, Michigan, has undergone many periods of dramatic change, creating a rich history.

This collection of over 200 photographs provides a fascinating record of the development of Novi through the 19th and 20th centuries. In the early days of westward exploration, the fertile land surrounding Detroit attracted the first settlers of Novi. The town grew quickly after the 1825 opening of the Erie Canal, and by 1830, a bustling business district had emerged. The major changes came in the 1950s, with the building of freeways that cut directly through the heart of Novi. The sudden easy access to Detroit and Lansing ensured the town's future as a true American suburb. Shopping centers soon followed in the tire tracks of the freeway, and the area rapidly expanded.

A fascinating collection of rare and vintage images, this book documents the history of the Shelby township and its incredible evolution.

In early 1818, a 36-square-mile area of Michigan known as Town 3 N, Range 12 E was surveyed and opened for sale. Ten years later, Shelby Township, blessed with abundant streams and fertile soils, was well on its way to becoming a prosperous farming community lasting well into the 20th century. One of these farms was a station on the Underground Railroad and, 100 years later, home to boxer Joe Louis. The doomed Clinton and Kalamazoo Canal was dug through the township in 1839, but railroads and the horse and buggy remained the preferred modes of transportation until the advent of the automobile. The Packard Motor Car Company purchased over 400 acres in the township in 1926 and installed a world-class automobile testing facility. By 1960, the automobile had changed the landscape, shifting it from farms to the tract housing, retail centers, and industrial complexes seen today.