What do you think?
Rate this book
Laughing Whitefish
Lawyer William Poe aids the Chippewa Indian, Laughing Whitefish, in her legal battles and struggles to regain his faith in the law
312 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
17 people are currently reading
141 people want to read
About the author
Robert Traver
60 books43 followersRobert Traver is the pseudonym of John Donaldson Voelker who served as the Prosecuting Attorney of Marquette County, Michigan and later as the 74th Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. He wrote many books reflecting his two passions, the law and flyfishing, Troubleshooters, Danny and the Boys and Small Town D.A.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
April 14, 2022
A little long-winded at times but otherwise an interesting story. I enjoyed reading about locations I’ve been to in Marquette.
August 19, 2011
Original Review
Last week, on vacation in Michigan, I heard an interview on Points North about the reprinting of Robert Traver's (John D. Voelker's) novel Laughing Whitefish. It sounded interesting on two levels. First, I love the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Second, the story of how a Native American woman sued a mining company over her father's unpaid claim sounded fascinating. Having read the novel, I can tell you it is fascinating.
Laughing Whitefish works in two ways. First, Robert Traver does an excellent job describing the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, what drew people there, and what still draws them. He also describes the relationship the state had with mining and forestry. For a state known for its natural beauty, Michigan's history is steeped in environmental destruction in pursuit of natural resources. Traver remarks on this tension. Characters have moments of regret, of asking whether their ancestors understood how the creation of the Sault locks would unlock the region and risk the beauty and wonder of the area.
The other important facet of Laughing Whitefish is how Traver describes the treatment of Native Americans, how this landmark court case was won, and the impact it had on relations between the state of Michigan and Native American tribes. It reminded me of the dismal nature with which lands were usurped and reinforced the ugliness of American expansion. It's easy to ignore this past. It's easy to look at places names and not think of their origin. It's easy for other, more recent American tragedies to take precedence. However, we must not ignore the past. We need to remember.
What detracts from this novel is the side story and use of language. The love interest between the young lawyer, William Poe, and his client, Laughing Whitefish, is obvious and poorly constructed. Also, there are times when the language feels clunky. Is this because Traver was trying to capture the language of the time or was it a lack of mechanics? It's difficult to tell. Maybe, it just seems clunky compared to how we currently speak. The other small point which detracts from the novel is how the court cases become stale. Traver makes an issue of the slowness and tediousness of the law, but from a perspective of narrative flow he could have still captured this idea without sacrificing the pace of the novel.
Overall, Laughing Whitefish is an interesting novel and a reminder of our past. It frames the rights of an individual against the interests of a corporation. In a presaged paragraph the character Cassius Wendell speaks of corporate power. Cash tells William Poe that he is
As we look back at Enron, credit default swaps, British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon catastrophe as well as new rulings on corporate personhood, the quoted passage becomes especially haunting. Not only does Laughing Whitefish tell an important story, but it provides a backdrop for the current struggles between the rights of corporations and the rights of individuals.
Last week, on vacation in Michigan, I heard an interview on Points North about the reprinting of Robert Traver's (John D. Voelker's) novel Laughing Whitefish. It sounded interesting on two levels. First, I love the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Second, the story of how a Native American woman sued a mining company over her father's unpaid claim sounded fascinating. Having read the novel, I can tell you it is fascinating.
Laughing Whitefish works in two ways. First, Robert Traver does an excellent job describing the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, what drew people there, and what still draws them. He also describes the relationship the state had with mining and forestry. For a state known for its natural beauty, Michigan's history is steeped in environmental destruction in pursuit of natural resources. Traver remarks on this tension. Characters have moments of regret, of asking whether their ancestors understood how the creation of the Sault locks would unlock the region and risk the beauty and wonder of the area.
The other important facet of Laughing Whitefish is how Traver describes the treatment of Native Americans, how this landmark court case was won, and the impact it had on relations between the state of Michigan and Native American tribes. It reminded me of the dismal nature with which lands were usurped and reinforced the ugliness of American expansion. It's easy to ignore this past. It's easy to look at places names and not think of their origin. It's easy for other, more recent American tragedies to take precedence. However, we must not ignore the past. We need to remember.
What detracts from this novel is the side story and use of language. The love interest between the young lawyer, William Poe, and his client, Laughing Whitefish, is obvious and poorly constructed. Also, there are times when the language feels clunky. Is this because Traver was trying to capture the language of the time or was it a lack of mechanics? It's difficult to tell. Maybe, it just seems clunky compared to how we currently speak. The other small point which detracts from the novel is how the court cases become stale. Traver makes an issue of the slowness and tediousness of the law, but from a perspective of narrative flow he could have still captured this idea without sacrificing the pace of the novel.
Overall, Laughing Whitefish is an interesting novel and a reminder of our past. It frames the rights of an individual against the interests of a corporation. In a presaged paragraph the character Cassius Wendell speaks of corporate power. Cash tells William Poe that he is
"forgetting that corporations are organized primarily for profit. The special genius of the corporation is that while it possesses a kind of immortality and can never die, it is never bothered by a heart or soul or any qualms of consience. Corporations can do—and omit to do—things that their stockholders would be horrified to do by themselves. They can do so because the responsibility is finally dispersed among so many that no one is to blame because all are. That is the great fearful power of the modern corporation."
As we look back at Enron, credit default swaps, British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon catastrophe as well as new rulings on corporate personhood, the quoted passage becomes especially haunting. Not only does Laughing Whitefish tell an important story, but it provides a backdrop for the current struggles between the rights of corporations and the rights of individuals.
December 8, 2013
I love Robert Traver's, (John Voelker in real life) style. He has a wit that reveals the real truth in the characters and their tails. Famous for the Academy Award winning movie based on his Anatomy of a Murder, Traver/Voelker developed his legal "fiction" drama to a fine point. Laughing Whitefish is historical fiction based on the real trials that went all the way to Michigan Supreme Court back in the late 1800's in Marquette, MI.
The young lawyer comes to Marquette, MI far north of his Ann Arbor, University of Michigan home town. His first big cast is to win a young girl's claim of for remuneration for her father's unpaid corporate claim. The daughter has the original agreement document for this claim, but the real problem is that her father was an Ojibway Indian, she the Indian daughter.
Traver weaves a deeply intricate story of the history of mining and subsequent founding of Marquette county with all the charged social history of white-Indian relationships through the middle 1800's. Deep prejudice is revealed along with the courage and dedication of those who chose to interact collectively and fairly.
The author, John Voelker, was a lawyer who later became a judge. He infused his story with actual legal reference and detail, so much so, every turn of events rings with truth and intelligence. It is the human interaction that really melds the story into a delightful, readable page-turner that has you chuckling all the way. Historical fiction was never more accessible or enjoyable.
The young lawyer comes to Marquette, MI far north of his Ann Arbor, University of Michigan home town. His first big cast is to win a young girl's claim of for remuneration for her father's unpaid corporate claim. The daughter has the original agreement document for this claim, but the real problem is that her father was an Ojibway Indian, she the Indian daughter.
Traver weaves a deeply intricate story of the history of mining and subsequent founding of Marquette county with all the charged social history of white-Indian relationships through the middle 1800's. Deep prejudice is revealed along with the courage and dedication of those who chose to interact collectively and fairly.
The author, John Voelker, was a lawyer who later became a judge. He infused his story with actual legal reference and detail, so much so, every turn of events rings with truth and intelligence. It is the human interaction that really melds the story into a delightful, readable page-turner that has you chuckling all the way. Historical fiction was never more accessible or enjoyable.
February 4, 2024
It may not be relevant, but I actually read the hardback with this same cover. It's not listed on Goodreads and was published in 1965, pre-ISBN number assignments. It does have an assigned OCLC (world) world number: 1030111.
Robert Traver (pseudonym John D. Voelker) produced this intriguing novel based on a true story from the late 1800s in the upper Michigan peninsula on the Laughing Whitefish River. It centered on the daughter of a Chippewa who sought to sue a huge iron ore company that had been shown the ore by her father many years past, but had not compensated him with the promised mine shares or work. Young lawyer William Poe had realized that his heart was not in pro forma law firm work and embarked on a journey to find his place in the world. When he landed, quite by accident, in a town on the upper peninsula (Marquette?), he became the first lawyer there who was not affiliated with the ore company and was enlisted by Charlotte Kawbawgam (Laughing Whitefish, daughter of Marji) to pursue the suit. The preparation, trial, interaction among most settlers and the Chippewa all were fascinating. Outlined were the horrendous treatment and attitudes toward the original residents pushed off of their land into small enclaves and detailed description of some of their misunderstood customs.
Robert Traver (pseudonym John D. Voelker) produced this intriguing novel based on a true story from the late 1800s in the upper Michigan peninsula on the Laughing Whitefish River. It centered on the daughter of a Chippewa who sought to sue a huge iron ore company that had been shown the ore by her father many years past, but had not compensated him with the promised mine shares or work. Young lawyer William Poe had realized that his heart was not in pro forma law firm work and embarked on a journey to find his place in the world. When he landed, quite by accident, in a town on the upper peninsula (Marquette?), he became the first lawyer there who was not affiliated with the ore company and was enlisted by Charlotte Kawbawgam (Laughing Whitefish, daughter of Marji) to pursue the suit. The preparation, trial, interaction among most settlers and the Chippewa all were fascinating. Outlined were the horrendous treatment and attitudes toward the original residents pushed off of their land into small enclaves and detailed description of some of their misunderstood customs.
July 25, 2025
Laughing Whitefish is a courtroom drama based on an actual nineteenth-century court case in which an Anishinaabe woman sued a powerful iron mining company for not paying her family money they were owed for her father showing the mining company the location of a rich iron ore deposit.
The original case has long fascinated me--I work at the archives where it is housed--but I can't say I thought the book about it was a masterpiece. The prose strangely jumps back and forth between over-the-top literary flourishes and terse narration. Although progressive for its day in how it treats Native American issues, it still engages in a lot of stereotyping, and it's also quite misogynistic. Traver feels the need to comment on the relative attractiveness and appearance of every female character. There's also a sexual assault scene that's played somewhat for laughs...
Still, for Traver's time, the book is better than it could have been. I was pulled in by the likeability of the main trio of characters and the fun of reading a book set less than a mile away from where I was reading it.
The original case has long fascinated me--I work at the archives where it is housed--but I can't say I thought the book about it was a masterpiece. The prose strangely jumps back and forth between over-the-top literary flourishes and terse narration. Although progressive for its day in how it treats Native American issues, it still engages in a lot of stereotyping, and it's also quite misogynistic. Traver feels the need to comment on the relative attractiveness and appearance of every female character. There's also a sexual assault scene that's played somewhat for laughs...
Still, for Traver's time, the book is better than it could have been. I was pulled in by the likeability of the main trio of characters and the fun of reading a book set less than a mile away from where I was reading it.
April 6, 2020
Well-written law mystery. Traver fleshes out his historical characters & setting well, and clearly did his research on all aspects involved in the telling of this story. Honest glimpse into the landscape of late 1800s Upper Peninsula and the exploitative relationship of whites toward Native Americans, in this case the Chippewa.
November 30, 2020
Well written. A combination of suspense, hilarious conversations, frustrating circumstances and tender romance. A wonderful re-creation of the times and the people as well as a Victorian courtroom drama.
August 10, 2025
I could have done without the sappy romance, and the fact that each character referred to the others by first name rather than Mr. xxx or Ms. xxx seemed disingenuous for the time... I liked the general story and really appreciated the forward and the author's remarks at the end, though.
May 1, 2020
I finished it but I think that I would have enjoyed it more if I knew the legal terms better.
July 3, 2021
3.5 stars, rounded up. Good law story about a real case, set in the UP.
January 11, 2025
As a Michigander, I found this snapshot of an earlier age insightful and uncomfortable.
The story feels progressive, but the language was just the opposite.
The story feels progressive, but the language was just the opposite.
August 7, 2014
Laughing Whitefish was printed in 1965, and takes place in the latter part of the 1800s, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. As with Traver's better-known novel, Anatomy of a Murder, it features a young lawyer, almost fresh out of law school, and an old codger who has drinking problems. The old guy, in this case, is Cassius Wendell, and he brings young Willy (William Poe, age 26) his first real case. And what a case it is.
Charlotte Kawbawgam, aka Laughing Whitefish, wants to sue the Jackson Mining Company to obtain shares in the mining company that had been promised to her father, Marji Kawbawgam, via a written contract. Marji had led white explorers to a rich iron ore deposit that became the foundation of the Jackson company, and was the first iron ore discovered in the U.P.
There are many difficulties with the case. It is several years after Marji's death, so there is a question of timeliness. Charlotte is the daughter of Marji's second wife, and there is some question of whether he was ever divorced from the first, so there is a question of eligibility for inheritance. There was an offer from the company to settle the claim some years ago but Marji did not take it, so there is a question of whether the claim is still valid.
The story of the people - Willy, Cash, and Charlotte - is simple and not original. They go to battle against the big bad mining company with barely a prayer. The background and details of the actual case are, however, compelling. The legal case is based on actual cases that went all the way to the state Supreme Court. The essence of the actual cases is the same as in the novel. It is therefore especially interesting to read the intricacies of the law involved.
The primary issue is how an American Indian is to be treated in a state court. Should the laws of the state override the customs and rules of the tribe? It's complicated.
This book has a foreward by Matthew L.M. Fletcher, in which he dissects the actual cases and compares them to the cases in the story, from a legal standpoint. His foreward is well-documented with a list of cites at the end. Because he delves into the entire story in his analysis, my sister suggested that I skip the foreward until after I'd read the book, which I did. I think that's a good idea, even though I am not sure it would have upset my enjoyment of the story in any case.
Charlotte Kawbawgam, aka Laughing Whitefish, wants to sue the Jackson Mining Company to obtain shares in the mining company that had been promised to her father, Marji Kawbawgam, via a written contract. Marji had led white explorers to a rich iron ore deposit that became the foundation of the Jackson company, and was the first iron ore discovered in the U.P.
There are many difficulties with the case. It is several years after Marji's death, so there is a question of timeliness. Charlotte is the daughter of Marji's second wife, and there is some question of whether he was ever divorced from the first, so there is a question of eligibility for inheritance. There was an offer from the company to settle the claim some years ago but Marji did not take it, so there is a question of whether the claim is still valid.
The story of the people - Willy, Cash, and Charlotte - is simple and not original. They go to battle against the big bad mining company with barely a prayer. The background and details of the actual case are, however, compelling. The legal case is based on actual cases that went all the way to the state Supreme Court. The essence of the actual cases is the same as in the novel. It is therefore especially interesting to read the intricacies of the law involved.
The primary issue is how an American Indian is to be treated in a state court. Should the laws of the state override the customs and rules of the tribe? It's complicated.
This book has a foreward by Matthew L.M. Fletcher, in which he dissects the actual cases and compares them to the cases in the story, from a legal standpoint. His foreward is well-documented with a list of cites at the end. Because he delves into the entire story in his analysis, my sister suggested that I skip the foreward until after I'd read the book, which I did. I think that's a good idea, even though I am not sure it would have upset my enjoyment of the story in any case.
January 6, 2013
Laughing Whitefish is an excellent legal and romance thriller about a legal case that went before the Michigan Supreme Court in the 1800's.
The story takes place in the upper peninsula of Michigan. A young,beautiful Native American women inherits a legal contract about
an iron ore deposit. The powerful mining company does not want to honor. The only lawyer willing to help her is a recent graduate of
the University of Michigan law school. The two join together to fight the mining company in court.
The author is a former Michigan Supreme Court justice. He is also a resident of the upper peninsula and the author of anonther legal thriller, Anatomy of a Murder.
The story takes place in the upper peninsula of Michigan. A young,beautiful Native American women inherits a legal contract about
an iron ore deposit. The powerful mining company does not want to honor. The only lawyer willing to help her is a recent graduate of
the University of Michigan law school. The two join together to fight the mining company in court.
The author is a former Michigan Supreme Court justice. He is also a resident of the upper peninsula and the author of anonther legal thriller, Anatomy of a Murder.
November 21, 2011
Written in 1965 about a legal case of a Chippewa in Michigan whose father was owed big $ by a mining company. Nice to know that the plight of American Indians was understood even then, not that it has done much good. I was recommended this by a elderly lawyer friend who calls this his favorite book. The legal ins and outs escaped me, but it is a good read, by the author of the more famous "Anatomy of a Murder."
April 3, 2013
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had not read the foreword first. It should have had a "spoiler" alert. That said, the story was interesting, especially since I grew up in Michigan and camped in most of the state campsites in the Upper Peninsula. I knew the area. The story dragged here and there. I believe it could have been more tightly edited. But all in all, it was worth the read. I recommended it to my book club.
October 26, 2013
This is a wonderful book, by the author of ANATOMY OF A MURDER, based on the true story of a trial that took place in Michigan over Indian rights in the late 1800s. The author does a fine job of distilling the actual convoluted legal machinations into a highly compelling and readable account. The descriptions of Marquette at the time are lovely!
Read
October 15, 2013This novel is a must read... great tale based on a real American trial. Set in the mid 1800's, it is an important read to learn of our early American culture. I could not put it down. It is not an easy read... it is written by a real-life attorney... but his writing is brilliant! Loved it!
July 15, 2016
about as pretty darn good as a book can get. the writing style was excellent, storyline interesting, characters well developed. the setting was the beautiful U.P. it was like John Grisham meets James Fenimore Cooper. based on true. court case.
May 1, 2016
Robert Traver/John Voelker is a very good writer, whether writing about fly fishing for brook trout or writing novels that have the law as their central point. You have to have much respect for a very wise man that loves both trout fishing and decent bourbon.
March 29, 2010
A little drawn out. Otherwise entertaining enough novel, based on an actual court case. Parts are quite funny.
October 1, 2011
It was an interesting book that I read. I barely could put it down because I wanted to know what happened next.
March 25, 2012
Pretty good courtroom drama set in the neglected frontier, the upper midwest. Pretty good, especially if you care about the UP.
June 24, 2012
Even though I'm not into history that much, I thought it was a good read.
Read
December 14, 2012good
December 29, 2012
Setting is in the U.P. in the late 1800's. Enough said.
November 12, 2014
A great read for anyone interested in Marquette history. Set in the U.P. in the 1870s, this novel captures the authenticity of the people and the majesty of the geography of the region.
October 28, 2020
A fun read.
June 19, 2020
Perry Mason in the 1800's.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews