Beginning with the legacy of the Ku Klux Klan and the industrial tyranny of the early twentieth century, Detroit: City of Race and Class Violence charts Detroit's bitter history through the birth of industrial unionism, war time, the 1967 riots, and their effect on the city today. This revised edition pays particular attention to events since 1967: city politics, unemployment, and the creation of suburban boomtowns.

This book examines and compares the efforts of France, Britain, and the United States to extend imperial dominion over the Ohio Valley, focusing on the relations between Europeans and Indians to tell the story. In a compelling narrative, it considers the ways in which France and Great Britain each attempted to create viable empires in the region, the conflicts that resulted, and the origins and outcome of the American Revolution in the West. The result is a fascinating story that offers a strikingly new interpretation of the origins, progress, and effects of the American Revolution.

This book examines and compares the efforts of France, Britain, and the United States to extend imperial dominion over the Ohio Valley, focusing on the relations between Europeans and Indians to tell the story. In a compelling narrative, it considers the ways in which France and Great Britain each attempted to create viable empires in the region, the conflicts that resulted, and the origins and outcome of the American Revolution in the West. The result is a fascinating story that offers a strikingly new interpretation of the origins, progress, and effects of the American Revolution.

". . . agile, ambitious, and complex . . ." --The Journal of Southern History

"Etcheson adds a fresh dimension to the history of the Old Northwest by examining the way in which Upland Southerners' regional heritage affected the evolution of political culture in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois." --Choice

" . . . not only a political account, but also a cultural survey. The book is clearly written, free of jargon, and makes excellent use of both primary and secondary sources. . . . an outstanding interpretation of the motives and acts of a significant portion of the population of a significant portion of the country." --Lucy Jayne Kamau, H-Net H-WEST Digest

"Impressively researched, intelligently organized, and clearly written. . . . this volume] is the first in-depth study of political culture in the Old Northwest in the early nineteenth century, and it underlines the significance of persistent regional identities in the U.S." --Andrew R. L. Cayton

"Well researched and is written in a clear, engaging stylean excellent study of the origins and infulence of regional identity. It should gain a wide readership among students of antebellum America." --The North Carolina Historical Review

". . . an impressive and exhaustive job of research in primary materials, including letters, editorials, petitions, speeches, diaries, and memoirs. She pieces together these highly subjective accounts into an objective explanation of midwesterners' views." --Indiana Magazine of History

"In this well-written and carefully researched volume, Nicole Etcheson develops the role of Upland Southerners in the Ohio valley as they helped forge the political culture and public stance of that part of the Old Northwest." --Michigan Historical Review

". . . an outstanding contribution to our understanding of the political and cultural development of the the Old Northwest. This volume should be consulted by all who are interested in the region's history." --Wisconsin Magazine of History

". . . a thought-provoking volume that should be read by all scholars who study the development of the Midwest." --Illinois Historical Journal

The process of defining the Midwest began when Northern and Southern migrants began to identify themselves as Westerners. Nicole Etcheson examines the tensions between a developing Midwestern identity and residual regional loyalties, a process which mirrored the nation-building and national disintegration in the years between the Revolution and the Civil War.

Scholars may have widely differing views of the Progressive Era, but all see business as holding the key to the reforms of that period. In this new book Judith Sealander amplifies our understanding of the relationship between business leaders and reform through a detailed examination of Dayton and the Miami Valley of Ohio. She focuses specifically on four progressive projects that made this nine-county region nationally known as a center for reform activism.

The four "projects" include an extensive program of employee benefits instituted at the National Cash Register Company; the creation, in the Miami Conservancy District, of a massive flood prevention system; the institution of a new businesslike city-manager government in Dayton; and a new experimental approach to education in the region's public and private schools.

Well grounded in the scholarly literature on progressivism and drawing from a rich trove of local manuscript sources, Judith Sealander has provided an integrated analysis of the role of business leadership in these four reform areas that corrects the exaggerated treatment business has often received. She shows how this one group of businessmen functioned as reformers, the "grand plans" they had for changing society, their merger of scientific engineering, business management, and moral fervor, and the benefits and costs of their kind of progressivism.

Grand Plans contributes new insights into the Progressive Era and will interest scholars of that period as well as historians of American business, urban affairs, and reform.

The St. Croix Valley has been a haven for farmers since the first boom in the 1850s. The St. Croix River was a mecca for early industry, and the vast Minnesota and Wisconsin prairies have provided the natural resources for the region's farmers to grow their crops and their families. The valley was dotted with brightly painted barns, a sign of economic success. However, as time wore on, the St. Croix Valley experienced an agricultural downturn. Barns have been left abandoned. Fields have been turned into subdivisions. An era has passed, and the barns and farms that were once proud reminders of the region's success are disappearing from the countryside. But why? Lost Farms of the St. Croix Valley explores the history of the region, shares the photographs and stories of local farmers, and evaluates why the traditional family farm is falling by the wayside.

Joe Grimm of the Detroit Free Press has combined a fascinating collection of old family letters, diaries, journals, photos, and other memorabilia in this rare glimpse at Michigan's past. Based on a series of articles that appeared in the "Chronicles" column of the Detroit Free Press Sunday magazine from 1985 to 1987, Michigan Voices introduces the reader to a more personal side of the state's history.
Excerpts from historical documents include Cadillac's proposal of 1700 to establish Detroit and Roger Andrews' crusade for an independent Upper Peninsula in 1916. Among the chronicles Grimm has uncovered are humorous letters from a World War I recruit, an engaging series of correspondences between a Flint schoolgirl and Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy during the Great Depression, and an interview with Kenneth C. Welch, the revolutionary architect and planner who developed the mall/shopping center concept in 1946.