Wholesale Folktales and Legends of the Middle West

A history of the region as told through its folklore, music, and legends. "Entertaining, informative, appealing, charming, and a thoroughly compelling read from first page to last." --Midwest Book Review America’s first superheroes lived in the Midwest. There was Nanabozho, the Ojibway man-god who conquered the King of Fish, took control of the North Wind, and inspired Longfellow’s The Song of Hiawatha. Paul Bunyan, the larger-than-life North Woods lumberjack, created Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes with his giant footsteps. More recently, Pittsburgh steelworker Joe Magerac squeezed out rails between his fingers, and Rosie the Riveter churned out the planes that won the world's most terrible war. In Folktales and Legends of the Middle West, Edward McClelland collects these stories and more. Readers will learn the sea shanties of the Great Lakes sailors and the spirituals of the slaves following the North Star across the Ohio River, and be frightened by tales of the Lake Erie Monster and Wisconsin's dangerous Hodag. A history of the region as told through its folklore, music, and legends, this is a book every Midwestern family should own. Readers will encounter all sorts of creatures here, including: • Nain Rouge: the Demon that Haunts Detroit • Peg Leg Jo and the songs of the Underground Railroad • Mike Fink and the Pirates of Ohio • The Hodag, the terror of Wisconsin's North Woods • Bessie, the Lake Erie Monster Paperback | 8 x 9.9 | 160 pages