Donahue, James L.
June 1, 1938 -
Place of Principal Residence: Michigan
Biography
James L. Donahue was born to Velma and Edwin Donahue in Harbor Beach, MI on June 1, 1938. He attended Central Michigan University and graduated with a B.A. in Journalism and English Literature in 1961. For over forty years, Donahue worked journalism as a newspaper reporter, editor, and columnist with newspapers like the Huron Daily Tribune, the Times Herald, and the Kalamazoo Gazette. Part of his career involved a three-year stint in Arizona as a bureau reporter for the White Mountain Independent in Show Low. During this time, Donahue was able to study and observe the American Indian Tribes of the Southwest and even briefly living with a Navajo medicine man near Four Corners. Now Donahue is a freelance writer in Bad Axe, MI and takes particular interest in Michigan’s history – three of his published books deal with the subject. He and his wife have four children: Aaron, Ayn, Susan, and Jennifer.
Selected Works
- Schooners in Peril
- Steaming Through Smoke and Fire 1871
- Steamboats in Ice
- Terrifying Steamboat Stories: True Tales of Shipwreck, Death, and Disaster on the Great Lakes
Critical Reception
Because of his four published books on the subject, Donahue is considered an authority on Great Lakes history. The Historical Society of Michigan published his collaborative book Fiery Trial.
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work
Donahue writes historical books about the most distinguishing feature of Michigan, the Great Lakes. While working as a bureau reporter for The Times Herald, a Gannett-owned daily newspaper in Port Huron, Michigan, Donahue began writing and marketing a column dealing with Great Lake’s shipwrecks. Later, Donahue collaborated the Judge James H. Lincoln of Harbor Beach, Michigan, in the book Fiery Trial, a historic account of a forest fire that swept three counties of Michigan in 1881. In 1990, Donahue created Anchor Publications, and became the publisher of his own book, Steaming Through Smoke and Fire 1871. The book is a record of events on the Great Lakes during the year 1871, the year of the great Chicago fire and a forest fire that swept the states of Wisconsin, Northern Illinois, Michigan and Northern Ohio on the same day.