ATLANTIC SOUTH.
Regional Nonfiction / Observations, Essays.
This “rich and fascinating anthology” may be understating the case. This, in fact, may be the single most important volume of writings on “the fragile chain of barrier islands off the North Carolina coast known as the Outer Banks.” Noted Outer Banks chronicler, David Stick, who had already written extensively about and collected material about this thin arch of islands across the second-half of the 20th century, did an even deeper dive across the 1990s, delving into over 1,000 different sources to produce this sweeping collection. Spanning the entirety of time since Europeans first encountered the land and long-time native residents (1524) on up to the end of the millennium, Stick’s 64 selections cover it all. The chapter “First Impressions” starts with the explorer Verrazano and winds up with a 1956 visit to what was then one of the most natural un-touristed islands of the chain: Ocracoke. “The Natural Environment” includes a piece on “Native Agriculture” from the late 1500s, a piece on hunting from the late 1800s, as well as a piece by famed environmental writer, Rachel Carson, written before her signal work: “Silent Spring.” There is the necessary inclusion of a chapter titled “Man Versus Nature”, vital considering the exposed position humans find themselves in out on these barrier islands. Multiple chapters get into the long history of seafaring and conflict, skipping from Blackbeard the private to the many many wrecks off its treacherous coasts, including the famed Civil War ironclad: U.S.S. Monitor. “Making A Living” circles around the rich fisheries of the region, but also includes an interesting piece on the last of the regional whalers. No regional anthology would seem complete without mention of its unique, quirky, memorable characters, and here Stick included many. The collection logs a number of visitor impressions, not the least of which are novelist John Dos Passos, a very famous mid-century American, but also perhaps the most famous non-resident Outer Banks inhabitants: the Wright Brothers. Stick ends with a wide-ranging chapter on “Lifestyles,” which veers from the area’s premier location for scientific observation, the not always friendly interaction of religious denominations, plus a piece on “The Contraband Colony,” contraband the label applied to enslaved blacks freed by Union advances across the South during the Civil War … From the Virginia line and Currituck Sound south to Cape Lookout it bears repeating that this may be the most significant collection of writings about this most unique string of islands ever published. From the back cover, this statement seems most fitting: “A book as bracing as an ocean breeze.” [Condition: Like New. Aside from an inside cover mark noting this having been given as a gift in 1998, and a barely noticeable old price tag smudge on outer cover, this book looks like it just came off the “new releases” shelf.]
Condition: Like New.
Nonfiction / History.
David Stick (ed.).
University of North Carolina Press, 1998.
Softcover (First Edition), 6 x 9.25”, 317 pgs / 1.25 lb
