by Gordon R. Denboer (Author)
As a young boy, Dave Crehore moved with his parents from northern Ohio to the shipbuilding town of Manitowoc on the shores of Wisconsin s Lake Michigan, where the Germanic inhabitants punctuate their conversations with enso, the local radio station interrupts Beethoven for commercials, and the outdoors are a wellspring of enlightenment.
Crehore s stories of his youth in 1950s Wisconsin are peppered with engaging characters and a quiet wit. A grouse-hunting expedition goes awry when an eccentric British businessman bags an escaped bantam rooster with a landing net. Crehore's great-grandfather gets in trouble one Christmas when he sneaks a whoopee-cushion under a guest s seat. The elderly Frau Blau gets trapped in an outhouse by a shady auctioneer during a farm sale. Through all the adventures and misadventures in a small town and in the great outdoors of Wisconsin, family is always at the center. This gently humorous look back at a baby-boomer s awakening to adulthood will be appreciated by members of any generation.Honorable Mention, Kingery/Derleth Book Length Nonfiction, Council for Wisconsin Writers
Finalist, Humor, Midwest Book Awards"
Author Biography
Gordon DenBoer, editor of this present volume, received his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied with Professor Merrill Jensen. DenBoer is also editor of Volume II and IV of this series, and was research associate for the Atlas of Early American History (Princeton University Press, 1976). His work has appeared in the Journal of American History. Lucy Trumbull Brown, associate editor of this volume, is also associate editor for Volume II and IV. She is assistant editor of the Complete Works of Captain John Smith, and was for three years associated with the Institute for Early American History and Culture. Charles D. Hagermann served as editorial assistant for the current volume, as he did for Volume II and IV.