This image is the cover for the book Wild Women of Michigan

Wild Women of Michigan

Wild Women of Michigan commemorates the women of this state who boldly left their marks.


Countless Michiganian women performed extraordinary acts that challenged and improved the world. Madame Marie-Therese Cadillac served as the medicine woman in the frontier that became Detroit. Annie Taylor survived rolling over Niagara Falls in a barrel. After suffragist Anna Howard Shaw fought to vote, the state saw an influx of women running for office. In the 1970s, East Lansing's Patricia Beeman aided in efforts to end apartheid in South Africa. Suellen Finatri showcased an extreme side of equestrian sports by riding more than four thousand miles from St. Ignace to Skagway, Alaska. And World War II army flight nurse Aleda Lutz evacuated more than 3,500 wounded soldiers and is still recognized as one of America's most decorated servicewomen. Author and historian Norma Lewis commemorates the women who boldly left their marks.

Norma Lewis

Norma Lewis has lived in southwest Michigan for more than twenty-seven years. She loves local history and is a member of the Grand Rapids Historical Society, the Greater Grand Rapids Women's History Council and the Tri-Cities Historical Museum in Grand Haven. Wild Women of Michigan is her thirteenth book and her seventh with Arcadia/The History Press, three of which she co-authored with her late husband, Jay deVries. She currently lives in Grand Haven with Scalawag, a marmalade cat that more than lives up to his name.

The History Press