Around America: A Tour of Our Magnificent Coastline - Hardcover

Cronkite, Walter

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393040836 ISBN 13: 9780393040838

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 2001

Synopsis

In a witty travelogue, the award-winning journalist describes his odyssey around the coastlines of America, from the easternmost tip of Maine, to the islands off the coast of Texas, to California's Redwood Coast, documenting the people and places, past and present, that have shaped the United States.

About this title

Review:

This slim, enjoyable book is similar to the best kind of evening news broadcast: short on depth, yet long on charm, and featuring enough compelling anecdotes and interesting facts to inspire further investigation. In Around America, legendary anchorman Walter Cronkite presents a historical tour of much of America's nearly 5,000 miles of coastline. From the helm of his sailboat Wyntje, he offers tales of shipwrecks, naval battles, and navigational near-misses, as well as such memorable quips as "If you are a sailor, it is not a good thing to have a rock named after you." He's obviously much more familiar with the northeastern coast than the other places he describes, but even his enthusiastic, if light, take on the western and gulf coasts makes for pleasant armchair navigating. He also paints a rich montage of the 1,245-mile Intracoastal Waterway stretching from Norfolk, Virginia, to Key West, Florida, in which he describes both the culture of the waterfront communities he passes and the deep historical significance of the region.

In this engaging book, Cronkite proves that the water need not be deep to be teaming with life, and he offers an amusing anecdote, colorful character, or historical tidbit on nearly every page. At its core, Around America is a labor of love by a mariner in his twilight still happily searching for hidden American harbors. --Shawn Carkonen

About the Author:

Walter Cronkite, former CBS News anchor, has narrated TV specials and written an autobiography. He has sailed most of the coastline he writes about here. He lives in New York and Martha's Vineyard.

About this edition

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0393040836
• ISBN 13: 9780393040838
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192
• Illustrator: Canright David