Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids
DESCRIPTION
This unique volume contains twenty-eight fascinating life stories of people — many of whom went on to become famous — who grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The coming-of-age stories in Thin Ice relate a range of experiences both good and bad, including happy memories and heartwarming recollections but also personal traumas, intergenerational and racial conflicts, the strictures of religious belief and practice, the joys and sorrows of young romance, and more. Above and beyond the stories of the more notable personalities — Jim Harrison, Roger Wilkins, John Hockenberry, President Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, Al Green, Paul Schrader, William Brashler — the book as a whole is chock-full of crisp, humorous, irreverent, and moving writing.

Reinder Van Til and Gordon Olson have excerpted half of the pieces from previous publications, while they directly solicited the other half from active writers specifically for this book. The earliest stories go back to the 1830s and 1850s, and the most recent are a cluster of contemporary pieces that describe coming of age in the Grand Rapids of the 1960s through the 1980s. Together they paint a multifaceted, impressionistic portrait of a century and a half in the fair city of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

All in all, Thin Ice is a nostalgic treasure for any Grand Rapidian and literary treasure for e v e r y one.

Contributors
  Albert Baxter
Charles E. Belknap
A. J. Muste
Arnold Gingrich
David Cornel DeJong
Gerald R. Ford
Betty Ford
Edward V. Gillis
John Thompson
Roger Wilkins
Jim Harrison
Glen Peterson
Max Apple
John Otterbacher
Reinder Van Til
Al Green
Paul Schrader
Robert VanderMolen
William Brashler
Sheri Venema
Hank Meijer
Charles Honey
Tom Rademacher
Levi Rickert
John Hockenberry
Laura Kasischke
Kaye Longberg
Bich Minh Nguyen
1131141412
Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids
DESCRIPTION
This unique volume contains twenty-eight fascinating life stories of people — many of whom went on to become famous — who grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The coming-of-age stories in Thin Ice relate a range of experiences both good and bad, including happy memories and heartwarming recollections but also personal traumas, intergenerational and racial conflicts, the strictures of religious belief and practice, the joys and sorrows of young romance, and more. Above and beyond the stories of the more notable personalities — Jim Harrison, Roger Wilkins, John Hockenberry, President Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, Al Green, Paul Schrader, William Brashler — the book as a whole is chock-full of crisp, humorous, irreverent, and moving writing.

Reinder Van Til and Gordon Olson have excerpted half of the pieces from previous publications, while they directly solicited the other half from active writers specifically for this book. The earliest stories go back to the 1830s and 1850s, and the most recent are a cluster of contemporary pieces that describe coming of age in the Grand Rapids of the 1960s through the 1980s. Together they paint a multifaceted, impressionistic portrait of a century and a half in the fair city of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

All in all, Thin Ice is a nostalgic treasure for any Grand Rapidian and literary treasure for e v e r y one.

Contributors
  Albert Baxter
Charles E. Belknap
A. J. Muste
Arnold Gingrich
David Cornel DeJong
Gerald R. Ford
Betty Ford
Edward V. Gillis
John Thompson
Roger Wilkins
Jim Harrison
Glen Peterson
Max Apple
John Otterbacher
Reinder Van Til
Al Green
Paul Schrader
Robert VanderMolen
William Brashler
Sheri Venema
Hank Meijer
Charles Honey
Tom Rademacher
Levi Rickert
John Hockenberry
Laura Kasischke
Kaye Longberg
Bich Minh Nguyen
41.99 In Stock
Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids

Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids

Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids

Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids

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Overview

DESCRIPTION
This unique volume contains twenty-eight fascinating life stories of people — many of whom went on to become famous — who grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The coming-of-age stories in Thin Ice relate a range of experiences both good and bad, including happy memories and heartwarming recollections but also personal traumas, intergenerational and racial conflicts, the strictures of religious belief and practice, the joys and sorrows of young romance, and more. Above and beyond the stories of the more notable personalities — Jim Harrison, Roger Wilkins, John Hockenberry, President Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, Al Green, Paul Schrader, William Brashler — the book as a whole is chock-full of crisp, humorous, irreverent, and moving writing.

Reinder Van Til and Gordon Olson have excerpted half of the pieces from previous publications, while they directly solicited the other half from active writers specifically for this book. The earliest stories go back to the 1830s and 1850s, and the most recent are a cluster of contemporary pieces that describe coming of age in the Grand Rapids of the 1960s through the 1980s. Together they paint a multifaceted, impressionistic portrait of a century and a half in the fair city of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

All in all, Thin Ice is a nostalgic treasure for any Grand Rapidian and literary treasure for e v e r y one.

Contributors
  Albert Baxter
Charles E. Belknap
A. J. Muste
Arnold Gingrich
David Cornel DeJong
Gerald R. Ford
Betty Ford
Edward V. Gillis
John Thompson
Roger Wilkins
Jim Harrison
Glen Peterson
Max Apple
John Otterbacher
Reinder Van Til
Al Green
Paul Schrader
Robert VanderMolen
William Brashler
Sheri Venema
Hank Meijer
Charles Honey
Tom Rademacher
Levi Rickert
John Hockenberry
Laura Kasischke
Kaye Longberg
Bich Minh Nguyen

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780802824783
Publisher: Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date: 04/26/2007
Pages: 416
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Reinder Van Til is a longtime editor at Eerdmans Publishing Co. His other books include Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids (with Gordon Olson) and Lost Daughters: Recovered Memory Therapy and the People It Hurts.


Gordon L. Olson (1943–2024) was an expert in Grand Rapids history. He held the position of assistant director of the Grand Rapids Public Museum and was later appointed to the role of Grand Rapids City Historian. He also served on the board of the Historical Society of Michigan and was a founding member of the National Council of Public History. Additionally, he taught history at Grand Rapids Community College and Grand Valley State University. Olson was the author or editor of more than forty books, including Thin Ice: Coming of Age in Grand Rapids, A Michigan Polar Bear Confronts the Bolsheviks, and The Notorious Isaac Earl and His Scouts.

Table of Contents


Preface     x
Acknowledgments     xiv
Introduction     xvi
Potawatomies on Waterloo Street   Albert Baxter     1
Aunt Hattie's Story   Albert Baxter     6
At the Shipyard Forge   Charles E. Belknap     12
Sketches for an Autobiography   A. J. Muste     30
The Cut of My Jib   Arnold Gingrich     46
Belly Fulla Straw   David Cornel DeJong     59
Boyhood - and Beyond   Gerald R. Ford     77
The Times of My Life   Betty Ford     89
Growing Up in Old Lithuanian Town   Edward V. Gillis     105
Yesterdays in Grand Rapids   John Thompson     119
Technicolor Paddy   Roger Wilkins     136
Grand Raptures   Jim Harrison     155
Being Rent in Twain   Glen Peterson     159
Rocky and Me   Max Apple     175
The Memory of Cells   John Otterbacher     195
Sins and Misdemeanors on the Southeast Side   Reinder Van Til     206
Half a Chance to Prove Myself   Al Green     225
Opening a Door   Paul Schrader     242
My Football Career   Robert VanderMolen     247
Wilma, Whitey, and the Tackers   William Brashler     256
Mux at Ramona   Sheri Venema     269
Michigan and Fuller   Hank Meijer     284
First and Second Childhoods in Grand Rapids   Charles Honey     292
Baseball Nut, Altar Boy, Urchin...   Tom Rademacher     300
Even Though I Was Not "Raised Indian"   Levi Rickert     310
A Farewell to Arms   John Hockenberry     321
Before That Was There   Laura Kasischke     339
Bissell's Haunt   Kaye Longberg     354
The Good Immigrant Student   Bich Minh Nguyen     372
Permissions     382
Contributors     384
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