John U. Bacon spent nearly four years researching and writing his new book about the Edmund Fitzgerald . That was the easy part.

" The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald " is splendid, as it happens, and the reading public has caught on. It sat comfortably at No. 10 last Sunday on the New York Times' list of hardcover nonfiction best-sellers.

Climbing that ladder, or even finding it to latch onto, is the hard part. The selling part. The flying to Iron Mountain to drive two hours to Houghton to talk about the book on Wednesday part, followed four days later by the driving to Cleveland part.

"It is deeply valuable," said Bacon, of Ann Arbor, to make an appearance on the Times' list , where "Gales of November" has spent five of the last eight weeks.

"Ever

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