MICHIGAN’S THUMB DRIVE is a trip through Michigan’s Thumb, it’s also a history of Michigan, a geological survey and a travel guide. Michael J. Thorp tells stories of people, hard work and hard luck: legends of natural disasters, opportunity and riches and of failure and loss. Tales of presidents and war heroes, famous inventors and explorers, simple farmers and sophisticated Ivy League professors; it’s all here in one trip around Michigan’s Thumb. *Why did the terrified founders of the little community on Lake Huron call it Port Hope? *Who might be the most important political figure to come out of Michigan’s Thumb? *What famous billionaire’s fortune can be traced to his father’s first job in the Thumb? *How did a telephone pole and an old street light change a Thumb community forever?