A brilliant, soulful, and timely portrait of a two-hundred-year-old crabbing community in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay as it faces extinction.
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post, NPR, Outside, Smithsonian, Popular Science, Bloomberg, Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Review of Books, Science Friday, and Kirkus
"BEAUTIFUL, HAUNTING AND TRUE." — Hampton Sides · “GORGEOUS. A TRULY REMARKABLE BOOK.” — Beth Macy · "GRIPPING. FANTASTIC." — Outside · "CAPTIVATING." — Washington Post · "POWERFUL." — Bill McKibben · "VIVID. HARROWING AND MOVING." — Science · "A MASTERFUL NARRATIVE." — Christian Science Monitor · "THE BEST NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR." — Stephen L. Carter/Bloomberg
A Washington Post bestseller · An Indie Next List selection · An NPR All Things Considered and Axios "Book Club" pick
Tangier Island, Virginia, is a community unique on the American landscape. Mapped by John Smith in 1608, settled during the American Revolution, the tiny sliver of mud is home to 470 hardy people who live an isolated and challenging existence, with one foot in the 21st century and another in times long passed. They are separated from their countrymen by the nation’s largest estuary, and a twelve-mile boat trip across often tempestuous water—the same water that for generations has made Tangier’s fleet of small fishing boats a chief source for the rightly prized Chesapeake Bay blue crab, and has lent the island its claim to fame as the softshell crab capital of the world.
Yet for all of its long history, and despite its tenacity, Tangier is disappearing. The very water that has long sustained it is erasing the island day by day, wave by wave. It has lost two-thirds of its land since 1850, and still its shoreline retreats by fifteen feet a year—meaning this storied place will likely succumb first among U.S. towns to the effects of climate change. Experts reckon that, barring heroic intervention by the federal government, islanders could be forced to abandon their home within twenty-five years. Meanwhile, the graves of their forebears are being sprung open by encroaching tides, and the conservative and deeply religious Tangiermen ponder the end times.
Chesapeake Requiem is an intimate look at the island’s past, present and tenuous future, by an acclaimed journalist who spent much of the past two years living among Tangier’s people, crabbing and oystering with its watermen, and observing its long traditions and odd ways. What emerges is the poignant tale of a world that has, quite nearly, gone by—and a leading-edge report on the coming fate of countless coastal communities.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Journalist Earl Swift has written five books, including The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways (2011). Since 2012 he has been a residential fellow of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities at the University of Virginia.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
FREE
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. STORED NEW. Book. Seller Inventory # ABE-1680127586382
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: None Issued. 1st Edition. This is a New and Unread copy of the first edition (1st printing). No dust jacket issued. Includes photographs. Map. Index. There is a very minor bump to one corner. Seller Inventory # 050441
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New Copy. Customer Service Guaranteed. Seller Inventory # think0062661396
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: new. New. Fast Shipping and good customer service. Seller Inventory # Holz_New_0062661396
Book Description Condition: New. Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory # 0062661396-2-1
Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published. Seller Inventory # 353-0062661396-new
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # DADAX0062661396
Book Description hardback. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 9780062661395
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 32436793-n
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Brand New. 336 pages. 9.50x5.75x1.50 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0062661396