Michigan's dramatic landscape includes roaring waterfalls, the country's tallest sand dunes, vast virgin pine forests, soft rolling countryside, and miles of sandy beaches--and its history is as varied and interesting. Poremba approaches the state's history from many angles: the stories of the peoples who have made Michigan home, from Native Americans to French explorers, European immigrants, and African Americans; the rise of its industries, including mining, lumber, tobacco, and automotive; the intricacies of its politics, from the Civil War, to the civil rights movement, to the recent election of Michigan's first woman governor. Poremba's Michigan is a concise account of the forces that have made Michigan the state it is today.