Customer Reviews

Laughing Whitefish

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Robert Travers is best known for "Anatomy of a Murder" which was made into a movie, and truth be told, I thought that was the only book he'd written. I was pleased to find out that I was wrong when I stumbled across "Laughing Whitefish". Having lived in the Upper Peninsula for some time, I was taken back to those days through the writing of Travers. He never fails to create an image in your mind with his words. Additionally, the mystery and courtroom drama of this book would be a delight for anyone - even if they hadn't visited the particular locations. Travers is a joy to read, and I was happy to have found this book.

Robert Traver is the pen name of John Voelker, who was actually a Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. While Anatomy of a Murder is his best known book (and the greatest American trial movie ever), Laughing Whitefish is just as intriguing and amusing, and an inspiring legal drama as well. This story of the quest of a native American to reclaim valuable mineral rights in the upper penninsula of Michigan is filled with uinforgettable characters.

The story is nothing that will put you on the edge of your seat, but the characters are well-drawn enough to be engaging and make you care about the outcome. Sense of place is well established, in typical Traver style, and his fans will not be disappointed.

This book was written in 1965 but deals with issues that are timely today. This is not a hot paced "the bad guys are chasing us" sort of trial novel, but a hard look through the eyes of a varied and well drawn cast of characters in early Michigan at the injustices dealt the Native Americans at the hands of white men, and corporations. There are several passages I would like to share with you - because they are so precognitive of events right now in the United States.

"...I predict that one day in this country there will be corporations so vast and so powerful - yes and so helpless to restrain their own giantism - that they will rival and possibly even challenge the Government itself."

"...if the defendant here gave the Chippewa Indians a hundred Jackson Mines it wouldn't replay them even a small fraction for all that we whites have stolen from them during the past centuries. We have left behind us an unbroken wake of broken promises, broken hearts, and broken people."

The book is based on an actual case in which a descendant of the Chippewa Indian guide who showed the white men to the rich iron ore deposits which became the Jackson Mine sues the company for the percentage of the mine which was originally promised to her father in a written contract. My old copy does not have it - but I see the new copies available at Amazon include a forward by an expert on indigenous law and policy, which I am sure would be interesting to read.

The story of the case is interesting by itself - but Mr. Travers has populated it with memorable and lovable characters from the old alcoholic lawyer, to the young lawyer full of hope and idealism and more than half in love with his exceptionally beautiful, as well as educated and intelligent client, Laughing Whitefish.