Edward McClelland, a native of Lansing, Michigan, will be making a personal appearance and book signing for his latest book "Nothin' But Blue Skies: The Heyday, Hard Times, and Hopes of America's Industrial Heartland" at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Lansing Mall on August 10, 2013 at 1:00pm. The book tells the story of the rise and fall of America's industrial heartland, also known as the Rust Belt, and the impact on the people through a blend of storytelling and reporting. McClelland was inspired to write the book after seeing the remains of the former Fisher Body plant in Lansing where he attended high school. McClelland is a graduate

1. The ReThinkIt Group
Lansing, MI
MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact Name: Bill D. Morris
Company: The ReThinkIt Group
Contact: 517.214.6368
Email morris@rethinkitgroup.com
Lansing Native Edward McClelland Personal Appearance and Book Signing,
Author of Nothin‟ But Blue Skies: The Heyday, Hard Times, and Hopes of America‟s Industrial Heartland
1:00p.m.Saturday, August 10, 2013
Barnes and Noble Bookstore, Lansing Mall,
5132 W. Saginaw Hwy, Lansing, MI
Lansing, MI, 08-01-2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Edward McClelland returns to Lansing, MI to discuss
his fourth book, Nothin' But Blue Skies: The Heyday, Hard Times and Hopes of America's Industrial Heartland,
released in May 2013 by Bloomsbury Press. McClelland, a graduate of J.W. Sexton High School, Lansing
Community College and Michigan State University, was inspired by visiting the concrete slabs and mounds of
grass that now adorn the former Fisher Body plant next to his old high school.Nothin’ButBlue Skiestells the story
of how the country‟s industrial heartland grew, boomed, and bottomed. Through a propulsive blend of storytelling
and reportage, McClelland delivers the rise and fall, and revival of the Rust Belt and its vibrant, quintessentially
American characters.
“Engagingly written….McClelland's book reminds us of what has transpired in the heart of the country over the
past 30 years and of the battering endured by hundreds of thousands of working-class families as global
corporatism and federal trade policies gutted the American middle class.”—Los Angeles Times
“McClelland is a terrific reporter, smoothly blending facts from the historical record with the bitter, often profane,
conversation of the displaced and desperate men and women he meets and his own reflections. These last are
often as witty as they are shrewd.”—The Washington Post
“Focusing on personal tales of woe with sympathy and verve, McClelland brings home the impact of the titanic
shift in industry in the last half of the twentieth century…. The result provides an answer for anyone who has ever
looked at a shuttered factory and asked, Why?”—Booklist
His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, and on the websites Salon and Slate, among
others. A graduate of Michigan State University, he lives in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood.His previous
books include; Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President, Horseplayers: Life at the Track,
and The Third Coast: Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters and God-Save-
the-Queen Monarchists of the Great Lakes.
Nothin’ But Blue Skies can be purchased atBarnes & Noble Booksellersin the Lansing Mall and Everybody
Reads Bookstore in Lansing, as well as many major retailers and booksellers online.
Personal Appearance sponsored by“ICarried TheCross Foundation”, a military veteran‟s support organization.
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2. The ReThinkIt Group
Lansing, MI
EDWARD MCCLELLAND BIO
Edward McClelland was born in Lansing, Mich., in 1967. Like so many Michiganders of his generation, he now
lives in Chicago, Ill. His upcoming book, Nothin' But Blue Skies: The Heyday, Hard Times and Hopes of
America's Industrial Heartland, released in May 2013 by Bloomsbury Press, was inspired by seeing the Fisher
Body plant across the street from his old high school torn down. After getting his start in journalism at the
Lansing State Journal, he later worked as a staff writer for the Chicago Reader. His book "The Third Coast:
Sailors, Strippers, Fishermen, Folksingers, Long-Haired Ojibway Painters and God-Save-the-Queen Monarchists
of the Great Lakes" won the 2008 Great Lakes Book Award in General Non-Fiction. Ted's writing has also
appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Columbia Journalism Review, Salon, Slate, and The
Nation.
From the publisher, Bloomsbury Press:
The Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region became the "arsenal of democracy"-the greatest manufacturing center
in the world-in the years during and after World War II, thanks to natural advantages and a welcoming culture.
Decades of unprecedented prosperity followed, memorably punctuated by riots, strikes, burning rivers, and oil
embargoes. A vibrant, quintessentially American character bloomed in the region's cities, suburbs, and
backwaters.
But the innovation and industry that defined the Rust Belt also helped to hasten its demise. An air conditioner
invented in Upstate New York transformed the South from a sweaty backwoods to a non-unionized industrial
competitor. Japan and Germany recovered from their defeat to build fuel-efficient cars in the stagnant 1970s. The
tent pole factories that paid workers so well also filled the air with soot, and poisoned waters and soil. The jobs
drifted elsewhere, and many of the people soon followed suit.
Nothin' but Blue Skies tells the story of how the country's industrial heartland grew, boomed, bottomed, and hopes
to be reborn. Through a propulsive blend of storytelling and reportage, celebrated writer Edward McClelland
delivers the rise, fall, and revival of the Rust Belt and its people.
“McClelland‟s knack for turning a phrase („My last two full-time jobs no longer exist. For a Generation-Xer, tales
from the 1960s are employment porn.‟) allows him to tie together these auto and steel towns and capture
touching, personal tales so as to bring these dying municipalities back to life, if only on the page…. A reservoir of
information about American manufacturing, labor unions, and social movements, McClelland‟s book, ironically,
stands as a testament to the simple truth that one steel worker told him: „You can‟t grow an economy without
making things, producing stuff.‟”—Publishers Weekly
Find McClelland online at www.edwardmclelland.com and follow him on Twitter, @tedmclelland
Bloomsbury Press, www.bloomsbury.com