For you to share with your patrons, all are welcome and it is free for everyone.
Thanks
Victor R. Volkman, President, U.P. Publishers & Authors Association (UPPAA)

UP Notable Book Club: The Crystal Falls Community District Library in partnership with the U.P. Publishers & Authors Association (UPPAA) has scheduled author events with winners of the UP Notable Book List. The 55th event features Frederick Stonehouse, author of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – 50th Anniversary Edition. The Edmund Fitzgerald, a 729-foot freighter and one of the largest ships on the Great Lakes of its era, departed from Superior, Wisconsin, on November 9, 1975. As the ship entered Lake Superior, a powerful late-autumn storm developed, producing hurricane-force winds and waves over 25 feet high. Despite the captain’s experience and the vessel’s reputation for strength, the storm battered the Fitzgerald, causing navigation and handling problems. On the evening of November 10, the ship transmitted a final distress message, reporting flooding in unspecified areas and a significant listing, before disappearing from radar. The Edmund Fitzgerald sank with all 29 crew members, became one of the most infamous maritime disasters in Great Lakes history.
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When: Thursday, February 12, 2026, at 7 pm Eastern / 6 pm Central
Where: on the Zoom platform -- please contact Evelyn Gathu in advance at egathu@crystalfallslibrary.org, or by phone at (906) 875-3344. We recommend you borrow a copy of these books from your local library or purchase them from your local bookseller in advance to get the most out of these events.

FREDERICK STONEHOUSE  has authored over thirty books on maritime history, many of them focusing on the Great Lakes and contributed to several others, including Great Lakes Lighthouse Tales, Wreck Ashore: U.S. Life-Saving Service, Legendary Heroes of the Great Lakes, and Haunted Lakes: Great Lakes Maritime Ghost Stories, Superstitions and Sea Serpents, His book, Final Passage, is the first Great Lakes shipwreck book for children. He has been a consultant for both the U.S. National Park Service and Parks Canada and has been an “on-air” expert for National Geographic, History Channel, and Fox Family, as well as many regional media productions.  Fred teaches maritime history at Northern Michigan University and is an active consultant for numerous maritime-oriented projects and programs..

"As the original chronicler of the Fitzgerald tragedy, his work has become the definitive account, shaping public understanding of the disaster and preserving its memory for new generations on the 50th anniversary of the sinking. 
Stonehouse has a meticulous eye for detail and is constantly revising the text to keep up with the latest technological advances in underwater archaeology, computer modeling, and so on so as to present 'just the facts' surrounding the tragedy of November 1975. Unlike many of the other 30 or 40 authors who have written about the wreck, he keeps an open mind on the accident 'without taking an advocacy position'.  Subsequent events are much in speculation and Stonehouse’s methodical analysis develops timelines based on several competing theories. Were the hatches defective or did a deadhead log or small boat fetch up over the railing and knock one loose?  Certainly any wall of water isn’t going to break a steel railing cable designed to flex within tolerance of the ship. Once the radar units were gone, the Fitzgerald had nothing more than dead reckoning available for navigation, although the Anderson followed and tried to provide guidance from 16 miles back.  Did the boat bottom out on one of several shoals in the area, given that navigation was dicey and wave troughs brought the hull closer than normal to the bottom? "  -- Victor R. Volkman, Marquette Monthly

More information about the U.P. Notable Book list, U.P. Book Review, and UPPAA can be found on www.UPNotable.com

About the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association (UPPAA)

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Regards,

Victor R. Volkman, President
L H Press Inc.
www.LHPress.com