Compiled by Anne Moser, Wisconsin Water Library at UW-Madison
April 2024.
Please email askwater@aqua.wisc.edu with any suggestions for new titles to include.
The Accidental Reef and Other Ecological Odysseys in the Great Lakes by Lynne Heasley. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2022.
Biodiversity, Conservation and Environmental Management in the Great Lakes Basin by Eric Freedman and Mark Neuzil. London; New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group 2018.
The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.
The Dismal State of the Great Lakes: An Ecologist’s Analysis of Why It Happened and How to Fix the Mess We Have Made. by JP Ludwig. Bloomington, Ind.: Xlibris LLC, 2013.
Great Lakes Fact or Fake? by Dave Dempsey. Traverse City, Mich.: Mission Point Press, 2023.
The Great Lakes: Stories From Where We Live by Sara St Antoine. Minneapolis, Minn.: Milkweed Editions, 2005.
Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps by Dave Dempsey. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2009.
The Great Lakes Water Wars by Peter Annin. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2018.
Lake Nation: People and the Fate of the Great Lakes by Dave Dempsey. [n.p.]: Dave Dempsey, 2018.
The Late, Great Lakes: An Environmental History by William Ashworth. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1987.
The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas by Jerry Dennis. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2003.
The Once and Future Great Lakes Country: An Ecological History by J.L. Riley. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013.
Pandora’s Locks : The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway by Jeff Alexander. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2011.
Ripple Effects: How We’re Loving Our Lakes to Death by Ted Rulseh. Madison, Wis.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2022.
Third Coast Atlas: Prelude to a Plan edited by Daniel Ibañez, Clare Lyster, Charles Waldheim and Mason White. New York: Actar, 2017.
Water without Borders? Canada, the United States, and Shared Waters by Karen Bakker, Emma S. Norman and Alice Cohen. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019.
Wilderness, Water & Rust: A Journey toward Great Lakes Resilience by Jane Elder. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2024.
Climate Ghosts: Migratory Species in the Anthropocene by Nancy Langston. Waltham, Mass.: Brandeis University Press, 2021.
Local Activism for Global Climate Justice: The Great Lakes Watershed by Patricia Perkins. Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2020.
Weather and Climate of the Great Lakes Region by Val Eichenlaub. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979.
Across the Great Lake by Lee Zacharias. Madison, Wis.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2018.
The Best Part of Us by Sally Cole-Misch. Berkeley, Calif.: She Writes Press, 2020.
Dead of November: A Novel of Lake Superior by Craig A Brockman. Tecumseh Mich.: Curve of the Earth Publishing, 2020.
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.
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. New York: Square Fish, 2023.
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. New York: A.A. Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 1994.
Shifting Winds: A Maritime Tale of Lake Ontario by Susan Peterson Gately. 2023.Self-published by Susan Peterson Gateley.
Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury: A Novel by Kinley Bryan. Hilton Head Island, S.C.: Blue Mug Press, 2021.
Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley. New York Henry Holt and Company, 2023.
An Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World by Anders Halverson. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2010.
Fishing the Great Lakes, An Environmental History, 1783-1933 by Margaret Beattie Bogue. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000.
The Great Lake Sturgeon edited by Nancy Auer and Dave Dempsey, East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2013.
The Life of the Lakes: A Guide to the Great Lakes Fishery, 4th edition by Brandon C Schroeder and Shari Dann. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2019.
Matching Baitfish Patterns and Techniques for Great Lakes Steelhead and Lake Run Browns by Kevin Feenstra. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2021.
People of the Sturgeon by Kathleen Kline, Fred Binkowski, Ron Bruch. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2009.
The Salmon Capital of Michigan: The Rise and Fall of a Great Lakes Fishery by Carson Prichard. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2024.
Something Spectacular: My Great Lakes Salmon Story by Howard Tanner. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2019.
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region by James H. Harding. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1997.
Animal Tracks of the Great Lakes by Ian Sheldon. Edmonton: Lone Pine, 1997.
Insects of the Great Lakes Region by Gary A. Dunn. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1996.
Mammals of the Great Lakes Region by William H. Burt. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1972.
Great Lakes Rocks: 4 Billion Years of Geologic History in the Great Lakes Region by Stephen Kesler. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2019.
Tales of the Great Lakes: Stories from Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin. Secaucus, N.J.: Castle, 1986.
Around Lake Michigan: American Indians, 1820-1850 by Gerard van Bussel and Eric Hemenway. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2021.
Honor the Earth: Great Lakes Indigenous Response to Environmental Crises by Phil Belfry. [n.p.], 2014.
Indians and Other Misnomers of the Upper Great Lakes: The True Indigenous Origins of Geographic Place Names by Phil Belfry. Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.: Ziibi Press, 2023.
Indigenous Life around the Great Lakes: War, Climate, and Culture by Richard W Edwards, IV. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2020.
A 1,000-mile Great Lakes Walk: One Woman’s Trek Along the Shorelines of All Five Great Lakes by Loreen Niewenhuis. Milwaukee, Wis.: Crickhollow Books, 2013.
Biking the Great Lakes Islands: A Guide to Biking Seven Islands in the Great Lakes by Kathleen S Abrams and Lawrence F Abrams. Wausau, Wis.: Entwood Pub., 1985.
Going Full Circle: A 1,555-Mile Walk Around the World’s Largest Lake by Michael Link and Kate Crowley. Duluth, Minn: Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., 2012.
The Great Lakes at Ten Miles an Hour: One Cyclist’s Journey Along the Shores of the Inland Seas by Thomas C Shevory. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
Great Lakes Island Escapes: Ferries and Bridges to Adventure by Maureen Dunphy. Detroit, Mich.: Painted Turtle, an imprint of Wayne State University Press, 2016.
Some Like It Cold: Surfing the Malibu of the Midwest by William Povletich. Madison, Wisc.: Wisconsin Historical Society, 2016
The Windward Shore: A Winter on the Great Lakes. by J. Dennis. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2011.
Great Lakes Sea Lamprey: The 70 Year War on a Biological Invader by Cory Brant. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2019.
Lake Invaders: Invasive Species and the Battle for the Future of the Great Lakes by William Rapai. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2016.
Overrun: Dispatches from the Asian Carp Crisis by Andrew Reeves. Toronto: ECW Press, 2019.
Blue Colored Muse: A Poetry Collection Inspired by the Pure Beauty of the Great Lakes State and the Talented Artists Who Call It Home by Jennifer Gordon. United States: Jennifer Gordon Poetry, 2023.
Harborless by Cindy Hunter Morgan. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2017.
Haul-Out: New and Selected Poems by Stephen Tudor. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1997.
HOMES by Moheb Soliman. Minneapolis, Minn.: Coffee House Press, 2021.
Let Them Be Left: Isle Royale Poems by Keith Taylor. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Alice Greene & Company, 2021.
New Poems from the Third Coast: Contemporary Michigan Poetry edited by Michael Delp, Conrad Hillberry, Josie Kearns. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2000.
Our Bearings: Poems by Molly McGlennen. Tuscon, Ariz.: The University of Arizona Press, 2020.
The Sky Watched: Poems of Ojibwe Lives by Linda LeGarde Grover. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 2022.
Watermarks: Poems from the Coast of Keweenaw by Barbara Simila and Peter Oikarinen. Calumet, Mich.: Manitou Books, 1996.
Weweni: Poems in Anishinaabemowin and English by Margaret Noodin. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2015.
The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World out of Balance by Dan Egan. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.
Great Lakes Champions: Grassroots Efforts to Clean Up Polluted Watersheds by John Hartig. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2022.
The Beginnings and Tales of the Lake Erie Islands by Jessie A. Martin. Warren, Mich.: Harlo Press, 2007.
29 Missing : the True and Tragic Story of the Disappearance of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald by Andrew Kantar. East Lansing, Mich.: Lancaster : Michigan State University Press; Gazelle, 2000.
Door Peninsula Shipwrecks by Jon Paul Van Harpen. Mount Pleasant, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2006.
A Fully Accredited Ocean: Essays on the Great Lakes by Victoria Brehm. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1998.
Ghost Ships, Gales and Forgotten Tales: True Adventures of the Great Lakes by Wes Oleszewski. Gwinn, Mich.: Avery Color Studios, 2012.
Graveyard of the Lakes by Mark L. Thompson. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2004.
Great Lakes Pirate: the Adventures of Roaring Dan Seavey by Gavin Schmitt. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2021.
Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals by William Ratigan. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1977.
Haunted Lake Huron: [Lake Myths Wrecks & Spirits) 1st ed. by Frederick Stonehouse. Duluth, Minn.: Lake Superior Port Cities, 2007.
Haunted Lake Michigan. 1st ed. by Frederick Stonehouse. Duluth, Minn.: Lake Superior Port Cities, 2006.
Le Griffon and the Huron Islands: 1679 by Steve and Kathie Libert. Traverse City, Mich.: Mission Point Press, 2021.
Light From the Birdcage: Stories From An Abandoned Great Lakes Lighthouse by Mike Sonnenberg. [n.p.]: Huron Photo, 2021.
Lighthouses and lifesaving on the Great Lakes by Linda Osborne Cynowa. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2022.
Lost & Found : Legendary Lake Michigan Shipwrecks by V.O. VanHeest. [Holland, Mich.]: In-Depth Editions, 2012.
Mastering the Inland Seas: How Lighthouses, Navigational Aids, and Harbors Transformed the Great Lakes and America by Theodore Karamanski. Madison, Wis.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2020.
Mysteries and Histories: Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes by Wes Oleszewski. Marquette, Mich.: Avery Color Studios, 1997.
A Pocketful of Passage by Loraine Campbell. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2007.
Ship Captain’s Daughter: Growing Up on the Great Lakes by Ann Michler Lewis. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2015.
Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes: Tragedies and Legacies from the Inland Seas. by A. Lardinois. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2021.
Shipwrecks and Lost Treasures, Great Lakes: Legends and Lore, Pirates and More! by Michael O Varhola, Paul G Hoffman and Frederick Stonehouse. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2008.
Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes by Ed Butts. [n.p.]: Tundra Books, 2011.
Steamboats & Sailors of the Great Lakes by Mark L. Thomphson. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1991.
Stories from the Wreckage: A Great Lakes Maritime History Inspired by Shipwrecks by John Odin Jensen. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2019.
Uncovering Great Lakes Shipwrecks by Kathryn Wesgate. New York: Enslow Publishing, 2023.
Warriors and Warships : Conflict on the Great Lakes and the Legacy of Point Frederick by Robert Banks. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Dundurn Press, 2023.
Wreck of the Carl D.: A True Story of Loss, Survival, and Rescue at Sea by Michael Schumacher. Beverly, Mass. Quarry Books, 2010.
Lake Specific Reads
Lake Erie: A Pictorial History by Julie Macfie Sobol and Ken Sobol. Buffalo, N.Y.: Boston Mills Press; Distributed in the United States by Firefly Books, 2004.
Lost Lake Erie by Jennifer Boresz Engelking. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2023.
Shipwrecks of Lake Erie: Tragedy in the Quadrangle by David Frew. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2014.
Huron: The Seasons of a Great Lake by Napier Shelton. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1999.
Lake Huron by Anne Ylvisaker. Mankato, Minn. : Bridgestone Books, 2004.
Le Griffon and the Huron Islands – 1679: Our Story of Exploration and Discovery by Steve and Kathie Libert. Traverse City, Mich.: Mission Point Press, 2021.
A New Insurgency: The Port Huron Statement and Its Times by Howard Brick and Gregory Parker. Middletown, Del.: Maize Books, 2015.
Three Fires Unity: The Anishnaabeg of the Lake Huron Borderlands by Phil Bellfy. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2011.
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, Ill.: Prarie Cloud Press, 2023.
Legends and Lore of Lake Ontario by Susan Peterson Gateley. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2013.
Lore and Legends of Long Point by Harry B. Barrett. Ontario, Canada: Burns & MacEachern, 1977.
Maritime Tales of Lake Ontario by Susan Peterson Gateley. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2012.
A Natural History of Lake Ontario by Susan Peterson Gateley. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2021.
Around the Shores of Lake Superior: a Guide to Historic Sites by Margaret Beattie Bogue. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2007.
Going Full Circle: A 1,555-mile Walk Around the World’s Largest Lake by Michael Link and Kate Crowley. Duluth, Minn.: Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., 2012.
Impermanence: Life and Loss on Superior’s South Shore by Sue Leaf. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 2024.
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 Greatest Lake: Stories from Lake Superior’s North Shore by C. Mihell. Toronto: Dundurn, 2012.
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.
