This select bibliography was compiled by Anne Moser, Wisconsin Water Library at University of Wisconsin-Madison in April 2024 and is designed as a complement to the more detailed bibliography of the Great Lakes. We may be missing titles so please send us your favorite great Great Lakes reads for consideration. Please send them via email to askwater@aqua.wisc.edu.
Be sure to check out our select bibliographies for young readers.
Agates of Lake Superior: Stunning Varieties and How They Are Formed by Bob Lynch, Dan Lynch. Cambridge, Minn.: Adventure Publications, 2012.
The Cadottes – A Fur Trade Family on Lake Superior by Robert Silbernagel. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2023.
Door Peninsula Shipwrecks by Jon Paul Van Harpen. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2006.
The Fisherfolk of Jones Island by Ruth Kriehn. Milwaukee, Wis.: Milwaukee County Historical Society, 1988.
Great Lakes Chronicle: Essays on Coastal Wisconsin from Wisconsin Coastal Management Program. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2018.
Lake Michigan: The Wisconsin Shore by Lisa A. Lehmann. Sheboygan, Wis.: Lehmann Photography Art & Design, 2013.
Lake Monsters of Wisconsin by Chad Lewis. Eau Claire, Wis.: On the Road Publications, [2016].
Lake Superior Agates Field Guide by Dan Lynch. Cambridge, Minn.: Adventure Publications, 2012.
Madeline Island & the Chequamegon Region by John O. Holzhueter. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 1974.
Meet Me Halfway: Milwaukee Stories by Jennifer Morales. Madison, Wis.: Terrace Books, a trade imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press, 2015.
Milwaukee: A City Built on Water by John Gurda. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2018.
Paper Valley: The Fight for the Fox River Cleanup by David Allen. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2023.
People of the Sturgeon by Kathleen Kline, Fred Binkowski, Ron Bruch. Publisher: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2009.
Sheboygan, A City Defined by Water by Sheboygan County Historical Research Center and Peter J. Fetterer. [n.p.] 2020
Ship Captain’s Daughter: Growing Up on the Great Lakes by Ann Michler Lewis. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2015.
Some Like It Cold: Surfing the Malibu of the Midwest by William Povletich. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2016.
A Storied Wilderness: Rewilding the Apostle Islands by James W. Feldman. Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, 2013.
This Superior Place: Stories of Bayfield and the Apostle Islands by Dennis McCann. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2013.
Vencedor: The Story of a Great Yacht and an Unsung Herreshoff Hero in the Golden Age of Yachting by Charles Axel Poekel Jr. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.: Sheridan House, 2021.
Wisconsin Lighthouses: A Photographic and Historical Guide by Ken Wardius, Barb Wardius. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2013.
Wisconsin Waters: The Ancient History of Lakes, Rivers, and Waterfalls by Scott Spoolman. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2022.
Death at Gills Rock: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: Terrace Books, a trade imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press, 2015.
Death by the Bay by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2019.
Death Casts a Shadow by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2022.
Death in Cold Water by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2016.
Death Rides the Ferry by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2018.
Death Stalks Door County: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: Terrace Books, a trade imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press, 2014.
Death Washes Ashore: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2021.
Around Lake Michigan: American Indians, 1820-1850 by Gerard van Bussel and Eric Hemenway. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2021. Lake Michigan by Sarah FitzSimons. Madison, Wis.: Water Books, 2019.
Perimeter: A Contemporary Portrait of Lake Michigan by Kevin J. Miyazaki. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2014.
Unsalted Blue Sunrise: Poems of Lake Michigan by Kathryn P Hardon. Paris, IL: Prairie Cloud Press, 2023.
Around the Shores of Lake Superior: A Guide to Historic Sites by Margaret Beattie Bogue. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2007.
Going Coastal: An Anthology of Lake Superior Short Stories by Lake Superior Writers. St. Cloud, Minn.: North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc, 2017. Going Full Circle: A 1,555-mile Walk Around the World’s Largest Lake by
Michael Link; Kate Crowley. Duluth, Minn.: Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., 2012.
The Greatest Lake: Stories from Lake Superior’s North Shore by C. Mihell. Toronto: Dundurn, 2012.
Impermanence: Life and Loss on Superior’s South Shore by Sue Leaf. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 2024.
Lake Superior by Sarah FitzSimons. Madison, Wis.: Water Books, 2019. Lake Superior: An Extraordinary Lake in a Changing World by Nancy Langston. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2019.
Let Them Be Left: Isle Royale Poems by Keith Taylor. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Alice Greene & Company, 2021.
The Long-Shining Waters by Danielle Sosin. Minneapolis, Minn.: Milkweed Editions, 2011.
Superior Death by Nevada Barr (Anna Pigeon Series). New York: Berkley, 2003. Sustaining Lake Superior: An Extraordinary Lake in a Changing World by Nancy Langston. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; 2017.
