Fishing the Great Lakes: An Environmental History, 1783-1933

This is a thorough and very well researched and documented environmental history of the fishing business (commercial and recreational)in the Great Lakes. The author does an excellent job of explaining in exacting detail the impact of human exploitation - specifically fishing - on the Great Lakes area. As a trained historian I can vouch for the immense amount of research that went into writing this excellent book. My only critique is that at times the writing can be somewhat dry and redundant. Overall it is an outstanding environmental history book.

I was disappointed that the author concentrates on sport fishing and blames commercial fishing for the decline of the Great Lakes fishery. She doesn't pay enough attention to the damage done by invasive species like the quagga muscles.

I read this book for my senior thesis project the working thesis i have going is the economic impacts of sport fishing on the great lakes. while the topic i have now is working towards the later introduction of salmon in the great lakes this book has helped me gain a lot of knowledge on the topic. the book is very well written and is also very informative. The author goes into great detail on the troubles that fisherman had not necessarily sport fishing but commercial fishing. the book kept me wanting to read it because i am very interested in this topic and in history. while reading the book i gained a lot of valuable background information and you can tell that the author is very familiar with the topic and has done the research necessary to write the book. the bibliography has many primary sources that i have found to help me in my research. Many of the environmental aspects of the book have also aided me in starting to build a case for over fishing and cyclical fishing patterns. I would suggest this book to any academic or even someone just interested in the topic. It is a fun read and a well written piece.