Customer Reviews

The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters, and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists of the Great Lakes

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The author takes you on a fascinating tour of the Great Lakes, discovering people and places that make this part of the Midwest so unique. As a lifelong Michigan resident and frequent visitor to Canada, Mr. McClelland's portrayal of the residents of the Great Lakes was spot on, and I often found myself laughing out loud at the quirkiness of their behavior. This book is essential for anyone looking to travel this section of the world, or at least learn about the culture and its origin. I couldn't put it down!

I enjoyed this book immensely. McClelland circles all of the Great Lakes, finding interesting people and places and putting them into cultural and historical context. The book is beautifully written, funny, and insightful. I am a native of the Great Lakes region, but I don't think you have to be to appreciate the book. I actually found it to be a page-turner, wondering what the author was going to discover next.

I bought this book for my husband, and swiped it from him one night when I had nothing to read. To my surprise, I couldn't put it down. Chapter by chapter, the author paints a colorful and enchanting portrait of grand, sometimes deadly lakes, fascinating places, and even more captivating people. As a 16-year resident of Michigan, I found I had been to many of the places McClelland describes, yet with his keenly observed eye for detail and story, he uncovered these places in wonderful ways and made me want to go back!
I loved the quirky people along the way; indeed, this is a book of travel essays that reads like a novel.
McClelland is a writer's writer, a droll and witty wordsmith whose writing isn't pretentious but is very good. I would call this book a true find, and would recommend this to anyone who likes to curl up in a chair and get lost in a story (or 20 stories!). Especially, "The Third Coast" will stir pride in anyone who lives on or near the great, Great Lakes.

By Vic Foerster (Grand Rapids, MI USA)

Starting from his lakeside apartment in Chicago, Ted McClelland goes for a drive--a long drive. With the blessing of his publisher, McClelland goes in search of what he calls the "Fresh Water Nation." Always keeping the water to his right, he circumnavigates every Great Lake, a coastline longer than the entire Eastern and Western seaboards combined.

The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters, and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists, is a contemporary look at the people who live around the Great Lakes. Suspecting we have as distinctive a culture as the Deep South or California, he seeks out individuals who reflect that culture, and as the title suggests, Mr. McClelland has a knack for finding the more interesting residents.

He discovers that butchers are celebrities in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin and that Garrison Keeler is a superstar in St. Paul, Minnesota, a state that's the home of progressive politics; i.e. Hubert Humphrey, Gene McCarthy and ... Bob Dylan. Traveling the remote north shore of Lake Superior, he learns that two of Canada's largest cities--Thunder Bay and Sault Ste. Marie, border the shore that most Americans think of as inside the Arctic Circle, and that to Canadians, the north shore of Lake Erie is the "deep south." He learns that the south shore of Lake Ontario is a laboratory for social progress--the jump off spot for the Underground Railroad, and home of women's suffrage and temperance.

Attending a Styx / REO Speedwagon concert in Cleveland, he recalls how arena rock bands, Davey & Goliath morality cartoons, and Great Lake mariners are icons of the area's culture. He describes Cleveland as so uncool it's cool and after spending time with Detroiter's, concludes they are surviving in one of the poorest large cities in North America--the equivalent of the New Orleans of the north.

Making the point that the U.S. is not "fifty states of Texas," he suggests that Minnesotans and Michiganders are more similar to the Canadians who live across the lake than they are to Georgians or even Kentuckians. He draws the social, political, and the religious demarcation line at the Ohio River and north into Canada.

By his journey's end, I knew he'd like to go back to visit each person he spent time with, share a beer, and probably remember their children's names. McClelland leaves it up to the reader to determine how each of their stories fits into the overall picture of the Fresh Water Nation, and does so without belaboring the area's geography, history or doing any labeling.

The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway painters, and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists is the book about the Great Lakes that needed written. If you want to know what the people are like, you'd have to go a long ways to find a better description or one more interesting.

"The Third Coast" by Ted McClelland is an unsung American Classic that should be taught in all high school and college American Literature classes. "The Third Coast" literally puts many, no, most, books currently termed American Literature to shame. It is in the same genre as John Steinbeck's rightfully famous "Travels with Charley" or Kurault's "On the Road with Charles Kurault" but "The Third Coast" is markedly better. Neither Ernest Hemmingway nor any of his contemporaries could have written anything as good even if they had lived to be 500. And for the aficionado of local histories, "The Third Coast" is pure 24k Gold.
In a nutshell, McClelland spent 109 days driving more than 9,000 miles around all five of our Great Lakes; meeting people, exploring Lakes' history and lore, visiting offbeat places as well as famous landmarks, and learning the signature attitudes, traditions and cultures of the hometown peoples who live by the Lakes'. And the Lakes' people and culture is every bit as unique and interesting as those of The South, The Wild West, California, and possibly Mars.
Imagine going on an extended, leisurely vacation through History and a gorgeous and awesomely vigorous country with Mark Twain or Will Rogers as your travelling companion. McClelland's skills as an observer and the crisp freshness of his writing style are superlative... or better. His stunning command of Prose combined with his delightful candor and sly Twain-istic Wit makes the journey (and the pages) seem to flash by. Fact is: "The Third Coast" is a book you could thoroughly enjoy simply for the excellence of the writing regardless of whether you had any interest in the topic. I was on page 117 before I remembered to take a sip of my Pepsi ! You'll love it !
before I remembered to take a sip of my Pepsi ! You'll love it !

The thing that is most obvious about McClelland's tour of the people and places of the Great Lakes is his deep affection for his subject matter. As someone who did not grow up in the mid-west this is a subject I'd given very little thought to. My pride in my adopted region has grown immensely since reading The Third Coast. McClelland's singular gift is to find the unique and noteworthy in the seemingly run-of-the-mill. His insights and personal reflections invited me into this region in a way that a straight regional guidebook would not have. His friendly, conversational, humorous tone as well as the characters he encounters along the way make for a fun read. As I consider my summer plans, I find myself wanting to strike out for Isle Royale or one of the many other nooks described in the book.

I just finished reading "The Third Coast" and found it a very interesting read. If you enjoy the style of William Least Heat Moon I believe you will like this book. I live in a Lake Michigan community but I had forgotten all of the interesting people and places our region holds. Thanks to this book I will be wandering the Great Lakes in years to come.

I am a transplant to the Grand Haven, MI area, like the author, I am also from the Lansing, MI area. I really enjoyed this book, it hit very close to home. I only wish I had the time to make the same trip the author made. The book made me stop and think of how grateful I should be to be here in the Midwest and appreciate our unique heritage as well as appreciate the relationship we have with our neighbors to the north. Many times I have made trips to Canada for work related visits or with friends. Each visit I have met interesting people who treat us with the utmost respect and hospitality. Thanks for writing a book that made me connect with my heritage and to make me realize how lucky we are to live on the "Third Coast".

Who wouldn't want to gas up his car and hit the bricks for a summer? And get a book out of it! I've been reading "the Third Coast" nightly for about a week now and I am thoroughly enjoying each page. I've lived in Michigan most of my life but I've traveled a great deal also. It's so refreshing to find a book that chronicles union guys in Chicago, mariners from Europe, Wisconsin brat makers, punk rockers in the Upper Peninsula (of all places), Indian painters... the Haven "hi" guy... GREAT stuff. Off beat, interesting, written with descriptive detail that doesn't bog down too often. Funny too!!!!!

Honestly, I think McClelland could end up like a Andy Rooney or Charles Kuralt, a guy who can take a look at the mundane and get a nice story out of it. I enjoy a "slice of life" narrative and this one is terrific. Even if you're not a midwestern guy.. I think you'd enjoy it.

I loved this book! I couldnt wait to get to the next chapter to see where we were going next and who we would meet. The Third Coast is now on my list of all time favourites. A must read for anyone with even a slight interest in the Great Lakes region. Lanny Hayes