A history of the region as told through its folklore, music, and legends. ?Entertaining, informative, appealing, charming, and a thoroughly compelling read from first page to last.??Midwest Book Review
America's first superheroes lived in the Midwest. There was Nanabozho, the Ojibway man-god who conquered the King of Fish, took control of the North Wind, and inspired Longfellow's ?The Song of Hiawatha.? Paul Bunyan, the larger-than-life North Woods lumberjack, created Minnesota's 10,000 lakes with his giant footsteps. More recently, Pittsburgh steelworker Joe Magerac squeezed out rails between his fingers, and Rosie the Riveter churned out the planes that won the world's most terrible war. In Folktales and Legends of the Middle West, Edward McClelland collects these stories and more, offering a magical history of the region and some of its larger-than-life characters. Readers will encounter all sorts of creatures here, including:
Nain Rouge: the Demon that Haunts Detroit
Peg Leg Joe and the songs of the Underground Railroad
Mike Fink and the Pirates of Ohio
The Hodag, the terror of Wisconsin's North Woods
Bessie, the Lake Erie Monster.
By Edward McClelland (How to Speak Midwestern) and with gorgeous black and white illustrations by David Wilson, it's a wonderful look at the magical tales and folk traditions informing the American Midwest.
A book with something for every Midwesterner.
