The Chart Room.
Recommended reading for exploring the Great Lakes.
Read the water before you sail it.
A shelf for the inland seas.
Many of the books I use in my own research find their way into Project GL sessions. The Reading Room brings those titles together with books I recommend for anyone interested in learning more about the Great Lakes.
- 01Freighters
Ships of the Great Lakes: 300 Years of Navigation
James P. Barry
From the Indian canoe to the largest freighters, a classic survey that carries the reader through three centuries of marine growth and adventure on the Great Lakes, the highway and commercial artery of the region.
- 02Shipwrecks
The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald
John U. Bacon
Focused on those directly affected by the tragedy, The Gales of November is both an emotional tribute to the lives lost and the propulsive, page-turning narrative history of America's most-mourned maritime disaster.
- 03Ecology
The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
Dan Egan
The modern ecological story, invasive species, the Chicago canal, and the fight to keep the world's largest freshwater system alive.
- 04Freighters
The Long Ships Passing
Walter Havighurst
The classic narrative of the Great Lakes freighter fleet, from the wooden schooners of the 1800s to the thousand-foot ore boats still hauling today.
- 05Wartime
Call to Duty: WWII, The Great Lakes Region Responds
Wes Oleszewski
The story of how the Great Lakes region answered the call in World War II, from shipyards and training carriers on Lake Michigan to the sailors and workers who powered the war effort.
- 06Shipwrecks
Lake Superior's Shipwreck Coast
Frederick Stonehouse
A survey of the maritime accidents, lifesavers, and lighthouses along the shoreline from Whitefish Bay to Grand Marais, Michigan, the stretch of Superior known as the graveyard of the lakes.
- 07Shipwrecks
Shipwreck of the Mesquite: Death of a Coast Guard Cutter
Frederick Stonehouse
The full account of the USCGC Mesquite, the buoy tender that grounded off Keweenaw Point in 1989 and was lost to Lake Superior, told by the Great Lakes' most prolific maritime historian.
- 08Shipwrecks
Graveyard of the Lakes
Mark L. Thompson
A sobering account of the wrecks and disasters beneath the inland seas, from the Eastland to the Edmund Fitzgerald, and what they teach us about the water.
Books to guide your continued exploration.
Suggested readings to guide your continued exploration of Great Lakes history, heritage, and the waters that connect us.