“Death’s Door . . . is outstanding: it reaches beyond regional Michigan history to provide an intense crime probe into a long-unsolved murder mystery and in doing so involves even readers with little interest in Michigan affairs.”
Midwest Book Review
February 2007
“Nearly a century now after the ‘Italian Hall disaster’ (or as Woody Guthrie called it, ‘massacre’), one might understandably think that any and all new leads would have been exhausted, and any potential revelations reduced to the realm of ‘old news.’ . . . But along came Steve Lehto of Farmington Hills, Mich., who put to good use his unique combination of talents and qualifications—a legal ‘sharp eye,’ a history degree, previous historical writing experience and impressive Copper Country roots (which by definition usually precipitate lingering wonderment about Italian Hall)—to further the investigation while (of utmost importance) keeping the discussion within a larger context of history.
Gerry Mantel, Copper Country historian
July 2008
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“Lehto’s book, which is, above all, a determined effort to arrive at the truth of what happened at the Italian Hall on December 24, 1913, will surely prove to be, of the several that have been published, the definitive and authoritative account of that event. . . . When a book corrects history by documenting and telling the truth, instead of the accepted version of events, its author has succeeded in the historian’s task. Lehto is to be commended for a work of high scholarship.”
Frederick Baker, Jr., Michigan Bar Journal
September 2007
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“Death’s Door follows in the tradition of classic works such as Frank L. Palmer’s Spies in Steel: An Expose of Industrial War, or Philip S. Foner’s The Case of Joe Hill, which examined corporate-sponsored labor repression. As a result, critics predisposed to discount immigrants’ views of the Italian Hall deaths may not agree with Lehto’s conclusions. However, the book provides a cogent argument that is supported by a variety of sources. It is a useful study of Copper Country history, regional interethnic relations, and labor conflicts in mining communities.”
Paul A. Lubotina, Michigan Historical Review
Fall 2007
“Over the years, stories have grown and changed and much was done at the time to muddy the waters. Lehto, with monumental patience, went over all records and found things which had been thought missing for years.”
Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli, Traverse City Record-Eagle
December 17, 2006
