The Car Thief (1972) is a gritty, deeply human coming-of-age novel set in 1959 Flint, Michigan, that follows 16-year-old Alex Housman, a troubled teen who has just stolen his fourteenth car. Initially, Alex doesn’t really know why he steals cars — he simply feels numb, invisible, and restless, using the thrill of driving stolen vehicles… Read More The Car Thief by Theodore Weesner – Flint Book of the Week
Hatchet-Man by Marvin L. Easter is a compelling, historically grounded work that highlights the experiences of Black firefighters in Flint, Michigan, a city with a deeply rooted industrial and civil rights history. Through a blend of personal narratives, historical context, and community insight, Easter examines the challenges and triumphs of African American men who served… Read More Hatchet-Man by Marvin L Easter – Flint Book of the week
15 Years of The Machine Shop is a hardcover photographic retrospective capturing the first fifteen years of one of Flint, Michigan’s most iconic live music venues — The Machine Shop. The book was created by Jeffrey “Minty” Mintline, the venue’s longtime house photographer, and highlights memorable moments, performances, and personalities that defined the venue from… Read More 15 Years of The Machine Shop by Jeffery Mintline – Flint Book of the Week
The Many and the Few is an insider’s chronicle of the pivotal United Automobile Workers (UAW) sit-down strike against General Motors in Flint, Michigan in 1936–1937, a defining moment in American labor history. The author, Henry Kraus, was himself a UAW activist and editor deeply involved in the events he recounts, giving the narrative both… Read More The Many and the Few: A Chronicle of the Dynamic Auto Workers by Henry Kraus – Flint Book of the Week
Midnight in Vehicle City is a narrative history of the 1936–1937 Flint Sit-Down Strike, a pivotal labor action that transformed American industry and helped give rise to the modern middle class. Centered in Flint, Michigan—also known as “Vehicle City” and the heart of General Motors’ manufacturing empire—the book chronicles how ordinary auto workers challenged one… Read More Midnight in Vehicle City: General Motors, Flint, and the Strike That Created the Middle Class by Edward McClelland – Flint Book of the Week
Recollections of a Michigan Boyhood by Charles Andrew Branch, edited by Robert G. Schafer, was published by the University of Michigan–Flint Archives (in cooperation with the Genesee County Historical Society) in 1983; the edition runs ~162 pages. This is a first-person rural memoir: Branch pieces together a lifetime of memories about growing up in Genesee… Read More Recollections of a Michigan Boyhood (Charles A. Branch) – Flint Book of the Week
The History of UAW Local 659 is a union-produced historical volume documenting the origins, struggles, triumphs, and community presence of UAW Local 659, one of Flint’s major General Motors locals. Compiled by Local 659’s History Committee and edited by members including Don Mosher and Al Anthony, the book serves as both a historical reference and… Read More The History of UAW Local 659: We Make Our Own History (1993) – Flint Book of the Week
Music Makers from Mid-Michigan and Surrounding Areas, 1940s thru 1970s: Who Were They? (William R. Holtzapple)Lulu.com / self-published (paperback, 2006). (~196–204 pages). A self-published, heavily illustrated local music reference and partial discography that documents recording artists, bands, studios, labels, and related people active in Mid-Michigan from roughly the 1940s through the 1970s. It is a… Read More Music Makers from Mid-Michigan and Surrounding Areas, 1940s thru 1970s: Who Were They? (William R. Holtzapple) – Flint Book of the Week
Rivethead is Ben Hamper’s darkly hilarious, brutally honest memoir about life as a “shop-rat” on General Motors’ assembly lines in Flint, Michigan. It captures the culture, chaos, humor, and despair of factory work in the 1970s and 1980s, told in Hamper’s signature voice—sharp, sarcastic, and unsparing.The book opens with Hamper’s childhood in a big Catholic… Read More Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line (Ben Hamper) – Flint Book of the Week
In this warm, plainspoken memoir, radio legend Bill Lamb pulls back the curtain on a life lived at the intersection of a blue-collar city and its soundtrack. Part personal history, part oral chronicle of mid-century Flint, the book traces Lamb’s journey from itinerant broadcaster to the familiar voice who kept time with the Buick factory… Read More Buick, The Factory Whistle & Me (Bill Lamb) – Flint Book of the Week
Ramblings of an Old Coot 