Additional information
by Jack R. Westbrook (Author)
A sweeping tale of a Holland, Michigan, Dutch schoolteacher and an Upper Peninsula Finnish copper miner during the turbulent times of the 1913 Keweenaw Peninsula copper miner's strike and their daughter Kiasa, named for a victim of Calumet's Italian Hall Tragedy. Born of the Michigan copper mines, Kaisa's saga traces her life to the 1930s oil boomtown of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, where her life is changed by Michigan's worst oilfield disaster. At Mackinac Island, Michigan, her chance encounter with a member of the wealthy Maurice family ultimately leads her to Jekyll Island, Georgia, in 1942. At Jekyll Island, where the Millionaires Club is breaking up because of the Nazi U-Boat threat to members' safety, Kaisa finds love and intrigue.
Author Biography
Jack R. Westbrook, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan author, was Managing Editor of the Michigan Oil & Gas News, a weekly magazine . Semi-retiring in 2001, Jack was a regular columnist for Michigan Oil & Gas News until December 2007. For three years he was a monthly contributor to Michigan Traveler magazine before leaving that pursuit early in 2006 to pursue book projects. He now writes a regular photo history column for the Morning Sun, Mt. Pleasant's daily newspaper. He has written and/or edited three books about Michigan's oil and gas industry: The Michigan Oil & Gas Story: County by County; Michigan Oil & Gas News 60th Anniversary Photo Review; A History of Michigan Oil and Gas Exploration and Production ); and Michigan Oil and Gas, a photo history of the industry released by Arcadia Publishing in September, 2006. Westbrook also wrote Mount Pleasant Then and Now, a photo review Mount Pleasant, Michigan, contrasting photographs of the community in an era-range of the 1890s through the 1960s on the same pages with pictures he took in the summer of 2006. His Central Michigan University book for Arcadia Publishing's Campus History series, was published in 2007. In November of 2008, Westbrook released Isabella County 1859-2009, a pictorial history for Arcadia Publishing honoring the county's 150th birthday in 2009. Yesterday's School Kids of Isabella County - a Photographic History of One-Room Schools in Isabella County, Michigan was Westbrook's 2009 release, with co-author/genealogist Sherry S. Sponseller of Mt. Pleasant. In 2010, Westbrook published The BIG Picture Book of Mt. Pleasant Michigan, a 340 page compilation of early Mt. Pleasant contrasted with modern photos of the same scenes. In 2011, he wrote Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund 1976-2011, a photo history of the fund that helps finance acquisition and development of Michigan public recreation venues. Westbrook published At Home in Earlier Mt. Pleasant Michigan in 2012, pictorially chronicling nearly 400 houses in Mt. Pleasant's historical core. Most recently, Jack turned to historical fiction with the recently released KAISA: A novel of Michigan's Copper Mining & Oil and Gas Exploration Industries; Calumet; Holland; Mt. Pleasant; Mackinac Island and Jekyll Island, Georgia in August, 2013.
