{"product_id":"9780802824783","title":"Thin Ice","description":"\u003cp\u003eDESCRIPTION   This unique volume contains twenty-eight fascinating life stories of people -- many of whom went on to become famous -- who grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  The coming-of-age stories in Thin Ice relate a range of experiences both good and bad, including happy memories and heartwarming recollections but also personal traumas, intergenerational and racial conflicts, the strictures of religious belief and practice, the joys and sorrows of young romance, and more. Above and beyond the stories of the more notable personalities -- Jim Harrison, Roger Wilkins, John Hockenberry, President Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, Al Green, Paul Schrader, William Brashler -- the book as a whole is chock-full of crisp, humorous, irreverent, and moving writing.    Reinder Van Til and Gordon Olson have excerpted half of the pieces from previous publications, while they directly solicited the other half from active writers specifically for this book. The earliest stories go back to the 1830s and 1850s, and the most recent are a cluster of contemporary pieces that describe coming of age in the Grand Rapids of the 1960s through the 1980s. Together they paint a multifaceted, impressionistic portrait of a century and a half in the fair city of Grand Rapids, Michigan.    All in all, Thin Ice is a nostalgic treasure for any Grand Rapidian and literary treasure for e v e r y one.   Contributors   Albert Baxter   Charles E. Belknap   A. J. Muste   Arnold Gingrich   David Cornel DeJong   Gerald R. Ford   Betty Ford   Edward V. Gillis   John Thompson   Roger Wilkins   Jim Harrison   Glen Peterson   Max Apple   John Otterbacher   Reinder Van Til   Al Green   Paul Schrader   Robert VanderMolen   William Brashler   Sheri Venema   Hank Meijer   Charles Honey   Tom Rademacher   Levi Rickert   John Hockenberry   Laura Kasischke   Kaye Longberg   Bich Minh Nguyen\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"EERDMANS TRADE","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47673603260468,"sku":"9780802824783","price":34.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/9390\/2132\/files\/9780802824783.jpg?v=1776378604","url":"https:\/\/woodslane.com.au\/products\/9780802824783","provider":"Woodslane","version":"1.0","type":"link"}