21. Richard Writes a Book - Part 1

A Best Seller... And Nan's Not Included

Original cover illustration by William Lackey

“Why don’t you write a book?” Richard Morenus’ American friends urged in their letters. His correspondents had often commented on their interest in what he had written about the bush in his letters to them, saying that most of the things he told them were things they had not known about before. “I knew without question that sometime I wanted to do some serious writing about the north,” Richard explains in Crazy White Man, “and I was just as certain that, as long as I stayed in the bush, I should never find time to do it.”

A shelf in the cabin he shared with Nan held dozens of pocket-sized notebooks. Every time Richard heard a story about northern Ontario bush life, he took out one of his notebooks and began writing in it. “I kept jotting in my notebooks with the thought that the future would somehow provide the time for me to write more than the short pieces and radio scripts which still furnished me with at least an adequate income,” he recalls in his book. I would like to locate Richard’s notebooks, but so far, I have had no luck in my search.

After Richard’s split with Nan in 1946, he moved back to the United States and settled down in Chicago – and later Escanaba, Michigan – to write his first book. On July 27, 1947, the Escanaba Daily News reported that Richard and his “wife” Nora (they were married a year later) were spending the summer at the Cove, a summer cottage near Munising, Michigan owned by Mrs. William McKeever in Hiawatha State Forest where he was writing a book on his experiences in Canada. His task was less than straightforward, however, as he chose to leave his wife Nan, his partner during six years of wilderness life, completely out of his account.

"Richard Morenus, well known writer, and his wife are spending the summer at the McKeever cottage." The woman in the photos is Nora Smith, whom Richard would marry a year later. Escanaba Daily Press, August 26, 1947.

 

Good Reviews

Escanaba Daily Press, October 9, 1954. By this time, Richard had written a second book for children.

Richard's book received many positive reviews. The Chicago Tribune praised it as "a little classic of the rugged life" (October 19, 1952), while the Christian Science Monitor called it "one of the best escapes from city pressures." [Argus Leader, June 13, 1954] "Respect for Mr. Morenus’ courage and hardihood grows with every page we read," Canadian writer Robertson Davies effused in his October 26, 1952 review of Crazy White Man in the New York Times.

Publicity photo of Morenus at "50 below zero" for his Crazy White Man book tour. This is a reenactment of his time in northern Ontario, likely taken in Michigan. Photo courtesy of Kim Clark and Michael Mansfield.*

Advertisement in the Sioux Falls, South Dakota newspaper, The Argus Leader, October 5, 1952.

Crazy White Man continues to be popular with readers worldwide. Here, for example, are just a few positive reviews of the book  posted in 2019 on Amazon.UK:

• “This is one of the few books I’ve read in 66 years that I simply could not put down. Well written, incredibly well written. Did I note it is well written?” – Joel, June 12, 2019.        
•  “I had no idea Canada had an area referred to as ‘the bush.’ This was a fascinating look into surviving in a very unfriendly environment by a man with little knowledge of how to even go about surviving.” – Ruby Chaney, August 1, 2019 
•  “A fascinating story of a time before cell phones and computers when humans communicated face to face! … A wonderful escape from the insanity of today!” – Luckyguy, May 25, 2019 
• “Have read this book at least 100 times. Gave a copy to each of my kids and now on Kindle. Written in early 50s so interesting on how it was then versus now. I read it the first time as a child and it lit the fuse on my love of the Canadian bush.” – Jim Bitz, September 1, 2019

There are a few negative reviews. A Kindle customer, for example, wrote on June 4, 2019 that while the subject matter is interesting, 

I was not a fan of the writer’s biases against the Indigenous people (“Indians”) of Canada, or his treatment of his sled dogs (beatings – even if they are deemed necessary to get the dogs to submit to the author’s will). Additionally, the book lacked descriptions of mundane (yet informative) things like what type of bed he slept on, or some pictures of the subjects/locations/people that he described. In other words, the details were overlooked. Overall, though, it was decent and worth a read if you’re interested in living ‘off the grid’ for a few years.”

In March 2020, Arcadia Press issued a new edition of Crazy White Man.

Book Signings and Speaking Tours

Richard travelled extensively to promote his book both before and after it was published. He appeared on radio and television programs and was a popular speaker at society dinners and club meetings across the country for years. He became known as a gifted teller of entertaining tales of his solo adventure in the wilds of northern Canada. "Morenus is one of those author rarities who is a gifted speaker," the Eau Claire Leader Telegram enthused on October 11, 1955. "Audiences like his amusing tales of personal adventure, they chuckle as he directs his humorous barbs at himself and they learn new things about the Canadian bush with its Indians and trappers."

Richard speaking at a meeting of the Maytag Management Club, no location, no date. Courtesy Kin Clark and Richard Mansfield.*

A speech he gave to the Society of Midland Authors in Chicago in October 1956, was also well-received. "Dick Morenus' account of his mishaps during those six years was hilarious,' Fanny Butcher wrote in her Chicago Tribune column "The Literary Spotlight" on October 7, 1956, "though they must have been grim at the time. As he ended, he declared that his whole name in Ojibway is 'Crazy White Man That Talks Too Much,' but his audience plainly hated to have him stop." 

Bookstore window displays promoting Richard's book. Photos courtesy Kim Clark and Richard Mansfield.*

When asked by a reporter if he would repeat the experience of living on a remote island in northern Ontario for six years, Morenus replied that he would and that he "not only learned more but got more quietude and got closer to God than I could have hoped to anywhere else." [Source: The Lexington Herald, March 11, 1959.]

Bookstore window displays promoting Richard's book. Photos courtesy Kim Clark and Richard Mansfield.*

 

 

 

 

In June of 1953, with Crazy White Man in its third printing, Morenus went to work on a sequel tentatively called “Bush Doctor” about Dr. Bell in Sioux Lookout. [Sources: Argus-Leader, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, June 28, 1953.] (He had written a radio script in 1943 by the same name.) If he ever completed and submitted the manuscript, it was never published. He did go on to publish five more books, however. 

Other Books by Richard Morenus

 

Northland Adventure. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1954. (Children’s book)

Alaska Sourdough, The Story of Slim Williams. Rand McNally and Co., 1956.

The Hudson’s Bay Company. New York: Random House, 1956

.

Frozen Trails. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1956. (Children’s book)

Dew Line: Distant Early Warning, The Miracle of America’s First Line of Defense. New York: Rand McNally and Co., 1957.

*Kim Clark and Richard Mansfield are the owners of Winoga Lodge Island near Sioux Lookout, Ontario - the island that Nan and Richard Morenus lived on for six years in the 1940s. This photo was in a box sent to them by Randolph Trumbull, whose mother was Richard's first cousin. The Trumbull family came into possession of this box of photos after Nora Morenus, Richard's sixth wife, passed away in 1981. 

 

NEXT: Richard Writes a Book - Part 2: Wolves, Forest Fires, Romance, and the Ojibway - Click HERE

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