Impermanence: life and loss on Superior's South Shore
A personal journey through the ever-changing natural and cultural history of Lake Superior’s South Shore
Lake Superior’s South Shore is as malleable as it is enduring, its red sandstone cliffs, clay bluffs, and golden sand beaches reshaped by winds and water from season to season—and sometimes from one hour to the next. Generations of people have inhabited the South Shore, harvesting the forests and fish, mining copper, altering the land for pleasure and profit, for better or worse. In Impermanence, author Sue Leaf explores the natural and human histories that make the South Shore what it is, from the gritty port city of Superior, Wisconsin, to the shipping locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.
For Leaf, what began as a bicycling adventure on the coast of Lake Superior in 1977 turned into a lifelong connection with the area, and her experience, not least as owner of a rustic cabin on a rapidly eroding lakeside cliff, imbues these essays with a passionate sense of place and an abiding curiosity about its past and precarious future. As waves slowly consume the shoreline where her family has spent countless summers, Leaf is forced to confront the complexity of loving a place that all too quickly is being reclaimed by the great lake.
Impermanence is a journey through the South Shore’s story, from the early days of the Anishinaabe and fur traders through the heyday of commercial fishing, lumber camps, and copper mining on the Keweenaw Peninsula to the awakening of the Northland to the perils and consequences of plundering its natural splendor. Noting the geological, ecological, and cultural features of each stop on her tour along the South Shore, Leaf writes about the restoration of the heavily touristed Apostle Islands National Lakeshore to its pristine conditions, even as Lake Superior maintains its allure for ice fishers, kayakers, and long-distance swimmers. She describes efforts to protect the endangered piping plover and to preserve the diverse sand dunes on the Michigan coast, and she observes the slough that supports rare intact wild rice beds central to Anishinaabe culture.
Part memoir, part travelogue, part natural and cultural history, Leaf’s love letter to Lake Superior’s South Shore is an invitation to see this liminal world in all its seasons and guises, to appreciate its ageless, ever-changing wonders and intimate charms.
Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 485196f0-d36f-ec94-b95e-ae0454c49ab3 |
---|---|
Grouping Title | impermanence life and loss on superiors south shore |
Grouping Author | sue leaf |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2024-05-18 13:20:48PM |
Last Indexed | 2024-05-19 06:13:39AM |
Solr Fields
Sayner Plum Lake Library
Boulder Junction Adult Nonfiction
Hurley Adult Fiction
Iron River Adult Nonfiction
Mercer Wisconsin Collection
Sayner Adult Nonfiction
Superior Adult Nonfiction
Washburn Adult Nonfiction
BOOK - PAPERBACK
508 LEA pb
900.9 LEA
NEW 508 L47i
NEW 917.74 LEA
WI F LEA
Year
Boulder Junction Library
Hurley Public Library
Iron River Library
Mercer Public Library
Sayner Plum Lake Library
Superior Main Library
Superior Public Library
Washburn Public Library
Boulder Junction Library
Hurley Public Library
Iron River Library
Mercer Public Library
Sayner Plum Lake Library
Superior Main Library
Washburn Public Library
Ecology -- History
Geology
Superior, Lake
Geology
History
Solr Details Tables
item_details
Bib Id | Item Id | Shelf Loc | Call Num | Format | Format Category | Num Copies | Is Order Item | Is eContent | eContent Source | eContent URL | Detailed Status | Last Checkin | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b21288136 | .i3567233x | Sayner Adult Nonfiction | NEW 917.74 LEA | 1 | false | false | Available | saanf | |||||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35549105 | Bayfield Nonfiction | 508 LEA | 1 | false | false | Due Jun 6, 2024 | May 10, 2024 | baaun | ||||
ils:.b21288136 | .i3562873x | Hurley Adult Fiction | WI F LEA | 1 | false | false | Due May 28, 2024 | May 01, 2024 | hufic | ||||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35501613 | Mercer Wisconsin Collection | 900.9 LEA | 1 | false | false | Available | May 14, 2024 | mrwis | ||||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35513500 | Washburn Adult Nonfiction | 900.9 LEA | 1 | false | false | On Holdshelf | Mar 30, 2024 | waanf | ||||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35531861 | Superior Adult Nonfiction | NEW 508 L47i | 1 | false | false | Due Jun 8, 2024 | May 14, 2024 | suanf | ||||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35550661 | Boulder Junction Adult Nonfiction | 900.9 LEA | 1 | false | false | Due May 29, 2024 | Apr 30, 2024 | bjanf | ||||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35581554 | Iron River Adult Nonfiction | 508 LEA pb | 1 | false | false | On Holdshelf | Mar 19, 2024 | iranf |
record_details
Bib Id | Format | Format Category | Edition | Language | Publisher | Publication Date | Physical Description | Abridged |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b21288136 | Book | Books | English | University of Minnesota Press | [2023] | xv, 265 pages : maps ; 21 cm |
scoping_details_catalog
Bib Id | Item Id | Grouped Status | Status | Locally Owned | Available | Holdable | Bookable | In Library Use Only | Library Owned | Holdable PTypes | Bookable PTypes | Local Url |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ils:.b21288136 | .i3567233x | On Shelf | Available | false | true | true | true | false | false | 4, 123 | ||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35549105 | Checked Out | Checked Out | false | false | true | true | false | false | 9999 | ||
ils:.b21288136 | .i3562873x | Checked Out | Checked Out | false | false | true | true | false | false | 9999 | ||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35501613 | On Shelf | Available | false | true | true | true | false | false | 4, 123 | ||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35513500 | Checked Out | On Holdshelf | false | false | true | true | false | false | 9999 | ||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35531861 | Checked Out | Checked Out | false | false | true | true | false | false | 4, 123 | ||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35550661 | Checked Out | Checked Out | false | false | true | true | false | false | 4, 123 | ||
ils:.b21288136 | .i35581554 | Checked Out | On Holdshelf | false | false | true | true | false | false | 4, 123 |