History Titles Perfect for the Holiday Season
Tired of hearing the same tales of the golden days from that one great-uncle during dinner? Intrigued by the rich history of the Mitten you call home? Have empty stockings coincidentally the perfect size for a book? Celebrate and share Michigan history this holiday season with the University of Michigan Press's Ford Road and The Boy Governor, both 40%-off at the UMP Holiday Sale!
Allow yourself to be transported to Detroit at the dawn of the automotive age and Michigan's rural western counties after the settlement of the frontier in historian Amy Kenyon's debut novel, Ford Road. An exploration of memory as both pathology and promise, Ford Road follows the story of Kay Seger, who abandons her career as a historical consultant to a Los Angeles film company and returns to her childhood home in Michigan following the death of her mother. There, Kay rekindles a teenage love affair with Joe Chase, now a Vietnam War veteran and Ford auto worker. Afflicted by grief and the mysterious symptoms of an unidentified ailment, Kay, at Joe's urging, begins an investigation of her family's history, which takes the novel between past and present.
Don Faber's The Boy Governor is the definitive biography of the youngest state governor in American history. The book tells the complete story of Stevens T. Mason, a dominant political figure in Michigan's early development. Capturing Mason's youthful idealism and visionary accomplishments, including his advocacy for a strong state university and legislating for the creation of the Soo Locks, The Boy Governor renders a vivid portrait of Michigan's first governor — his conflicts, his desires, and his sense of patriotism. This book will appeal to anyone with a love of American history and interest in the many, larger-than-life personalities that battled on the political stage during the Jacksonian era.
