Customer Reviews

Blue Eyed Chippewa: (Bayshew) Folklore of Early Michigan

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a wonderful story, full of accurate history, fascinating characters, real people, and interesting graphics to make the story more 'visible' to the reader. Mrs. Weatherwax was the granddaughter of the woman in the story who was for her entire married life, protected and watched over by a remarkable Chippewa man of great character. The publisher listed himself as 'collaborator;' Mrs. Weatherwax wrote the entire manuscript, actively resisted the publisher's pressure to add some 'sex' to the story to make it more marketable (?), and to this day the copyright of this book belongs to Mrs. Weatherwax's heir, her own daughter. If this book was actually revised in 2000 as indicated here, it would have been without the legal right to do so. I can say this with certainty because I have seen the manuscript, actually held that official copyright document in my hands, read it, and discussed with the owner of the copyright what legal recourse she had to gain her rightful and legal royalties from the ongoing sale of her mother's work (now 'her' royalties). This book is a wonderful story, well written, and full of invaluable history and insight into the everyday life of early settlers in Michigan Territory. I lived within a few miles of where the main action took place; I've walked some of the same ground, and I feel very defensive of this story, the people in it, and the woman who wrote it. If you have a chance to purchase this book, by all means do; please keep in mind that the woman who wrote it did so solely and struggled to keep it as it was in the 1986 first edition, that she --alone--authored. She passed away before 2000.