Catalog

Record Details

Catalog Search



Chesapeake requiem : a year with the waterman of vanishing Tangier Island / Earl Swift.

Swift, Earl, 1958- (author.).

Summary:
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.   -- amazon.com

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780062661395
  • ISBN: 0062661396
  • ISBN: 9780062661401
  • ISBN: 006266140X
  • Physical Description: 435 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
  • Edition: First edition.
  • Publisher: New York, NY : Dey Street, [2018]

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references (pages [383]-417) and index.
Subject: Crabbing > Virginia > Tangier Island
Blue crab > Virginia > Tangier Island
Tangier Island (Va.)

Available copies

  • 18 of 22 copies available at SPARK Libraries.

Holds

  • 1 current hold with 22 total copies.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Abington Community Library 639 SWIFT (Text) 50687011594705 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Annie Halenbake Ross Library 639 Swi (Text) 00141543 ADULT Non-Fiction Available -
Bellwood-Antis Public Library 639.56 Swi (Text) 310BEL00085328 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Coudersport Public Library 639.56 SWI (Text) 30183000947919 Adult Nonfiction Available -
Glatfelter Memorial Library Adults 639 SWI Nonfiction (Text) 34216000916546 Adult Area Available -
Green Free Library (Wellsboro) 639.5 SWI (Text) 92521961 GFWM Main Room Available -
Guthrie Memorial Library: Hanover's Public Library Adults 639 SWI Nonfiction (Text)
Bookplate: Plated 2018: In Memory of James H. Brady
34007002322852 Adult Area Checked Out 04/06/2024
Highland Community Library 639.5 SWI (Text) 35610000935499 HGHM Non-Fiction Available -
Huntingdon County Library NF 639.56 SWI (Text) 30298100563349 Nonfiction Available -
Indian Valley Public Library 639 Swift History (Text) 39427103479598 Nonfiction Room: Adult Nonfiction Available -

Summary: 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.   --

Additional Resources