The Long Ships Passing - The Story Of The Great Lakes Book

There are lots of interesting tidbits in this work. Lots of dates, names, ships, lists of cargo, tonnage, ports, and more. After a while, it's too much. I appreciate the research and the recording of the facts but for a 'story', as the subtitle suggests, it's lacking something. There is too much jumping around in time, for example. It's difficult to tell sometimes to what year, decade, or even century each factoid refers. It's not so much that the dates are missing, it's more that each chapter, up to and including the last chapters, relates incidents and facts from many different times; there is not a chronological thread which carries this reader through from early history to 'modern' (this revised edition was published in 1975) times. It may be said that the chapters are not meant to be chronological but topical, each recording history from the angle of a particular viewpoint. Even so, assuming this, it doesn't make the volume more readable.
Secondly, there is quite a bit of repetition throughout. No doubt this is partly because of the non-linear style, but I have to assume that poor editing contributes as well.
Last, it is interesting and at the same time troubling to read the stereotypical characterizations of the native Indians.
I can say that some of the information in 'The Long Ships Passing' has inspired me to do additional research on a handful of interesting topics, and so in this regard, was worth the read.