Women lighthouse keepers, fur traders, cooks on sailing vessels, missionaries, and fearless travelers all wrote of their lives on the Great Lakes, both publicly and in quiet testimonies such as letters, logbooks, and diaries. Their narratives, which span the centuries from 1789 to the present, are now collected in this anthology. Compiled in response to historical accounts primarily from white men, this collection begins with American Indian myths and stories and continues through writings by women pioneers and travelers. More than three dozen selections of autobiography, fiction, newspaper accounts, and poetry chronicle the real danger and the physical and mental challenges of living in the environment of the Great Lakes.