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

by Ted McClelland

Overview

Chronicling the author’s 10,000-mile “Great Lakes Circle Tour,” this travel memoir seeks to answer a burning question: Is there a Great Lakes culture, and if so, what is it? Largely associated with the Midwest, the Great Lakes region actually has a culture that transcends the border between the United States and Canada. United by a love of encased meats, hockey, beer, snowmobiling, deer hunting, and classic-rock power ballads, the folks in Detroit have more in common with citizens in Windsor, Ontario, than those in Wichita, Kansas—while Toronto residents have more in common with Chicagoans than Montreal's population. Much more than a typical armchair travel book, this humorous cultural exploration is filled with quirky people and unusual places that prove the obscure is far more interesting than the well known.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781556527210
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/01/2008
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.05(d)

About the Author

Ted McClelland is the author of Horseplayers: Life at the Track, a senior editor at Lake magazine, and a writer who has contributed to Chicago Reader, Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, Slate.com, and Utne Reader.

What People are Saying About This

Tom Bissell

The Third Coast is much like the place it chronicles: interesting, not at all ostentatious, and a great amount of fun. (Tom Bissell, author, The Father of All Things)

From the Publisher

"[A] hearty, good-natured homage."   —Booklist

"The author struts an extensive knowledge of the area that makes this a must for fans of travel literature."  —Kirkus Reviews

Captures a slice of North Americana with the precision of a Walker Evans photograph, and sentences worthy of John McPhee."  —Neal Pollack, author, Alternadad

"To [Ted McClelland], the North is a state of mind, and it is the Great Lakes region that fuels his imagination."  —Chicago Tribune

"Is there a Great Lakes culture? Damned straight, and Ted McClelland nails it."  —Jerry Dennis, author, The Living Great Lakes and A Place on the Water

"The Third Coast is much like the place it chronicles: interesting, not at all ostentatious, and a great amount of fun."  —Tom Bissell, author, The Father of All Things

"[A] quirky travelogue."  —Kenosha News

"A very good read. I learned more about the Great Lakes region from it than I had in a half century of living in Michigan."  —The Bay City Times

Editorial Reviews

"[A] hearty, good-natured homage." —Booklist



"The author struts an extensive knowledge of the area that makes this a must for fans of travel literature." —Kirkus Reviews



Captures a slice of North Americana with the precision of a Walker Evans photograph, and sentences worthy of John McPhee." —Neal Pollack, author, Alternadad



"To [Ted McClelland], the North is a state of mind, and it is the Great Lakes region that fuels his imagination." —Chicago Tribune

"Is there a Great Lakes culture? Damned straight, and Ted McClelland nails it." —Jerry Dennis, author, The Living Great Lakes and A Place on the Water

"The Third Coast is much like the place it chronicles: interesting, not at all ostentatious, and a great amount of fun." —Tom Bissell, author, The Father of All Things

"[A] quirky travelogue." —Kenosha News

"A very good read. I learned more about the Great Lakes region from it than I had in a half century of living in Michigan." —The Bay City Times

From the Publisher

Alively and entertaining book.

The Bay City Times

Sprawling travel narrative.

gapersblock.com

Delightful . . . [the author's works] read like he is an old friend.

Ohioana Quarterly

[A] hearty, goodnatured homage.

Booklist