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

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.

Table of Contents:
Contents1. Shore Leave2. Oil Can Eddie 3. Suburbias Waiting Room4. North Shore Rambler5. The Drunkest City in America6. Ya Hey!7. The Door Into Yesterday8. Yoopers and Trolls9. Boat Nerds10. Marquettes Only Son11. The North Countrys Other Great Folksinger12. A Long Way From a Long Way From Anywhere 13. Highway 61 Visited14. Above Lake Superior15. The Ojibway Way16. The Largest Freshwater Island in the World17. Emancipation Day18. Canadas Deep South19. Greetings From Niagara Falls!20. T.O.21. For Queen and Canada22. The Burned-Over District23. The Irony of Syracuse24. Buffalo Used to Be25. Sole Survivor26. Ethnic Jazz27. The Erie Islands28. Black Bottom Blues29. Like 1812 All Over Again30. The Great Bay Port Fish Sandwich Controversy31. What Do Yo Do With A Drunken Sailor?32. Mackinaw with a W33. My Home Lake

About the Author :
Ted McClelland has contributed to Mother Jones, Salon.com, and the Chicago Reader, where he wrote a popular column called "At the Track" featuring stories from the racetrack. He is currently the senior editor for Lake and writes the "Cheap Bachelor" feature for the Chicago Tribune.

Review :
"[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 "To [Ted McClelland], the North is a state of mind, and it is the Great Lakes region that fuels his imagination." Chicago Tribune"Captures a slice of North Americana with the precision of a Walker Evans photograph, and sentences worthy of John McPhee." Neal Pollack, author, Alternadad"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 "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 "[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 "Lighthearted, entertaining." Plain Dealer "[McClelland's] industriousness in finding interesting people to visit with and interesting places to talk about is an astounding testament to his reportorial skills, his ability to sniff out a great story and his earnestness, persistence and imagination." Lake Michigan Shore "A lively and entertaining book." Bay City Times "Sprawling travel narrative." gapersblock.com "Delightful(the author's works) read like he is an old friend." Ohioana Quarterly