ISBN:
0062661396
Title: Chesapeake Requiem Pdf A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island
Author: Earl Swift
Published Date: 2018-08-07
Page: 464
“The best nonfiction book of 2018. … I can’t remember a book in recent years that taught me quite so much. Every page is vivid and rich. … A model for what serious reportage should be.” (Stephen L. Carter, Bloomberg)“[A] sweeping historical narrative. … Intimate, meticulously reported and captivating. … Earl Swift masterfully reveals Tangier as it is. … The definitive account of what once was and of what will soon be no more.” (Washington Post (A Notable Book of the Year))“In a gripping, 400-page tome, Swift gracefully outlines the harsh inevitability of global warming and how the people on its front lines try to keep living their lives in its face. ... Fantastic.” (Outside (A Best Book of the Year))“A masterful narrative of place, people, and nature, supported by the best sort of on-the-ground journalism. … In Chesapeake Requiem, Swift does what only the best environmental writers can do.” (Christian Science Monitor (A Best Book of the Year))“Earl Swift has long shown a talent for locating the big and poignant stories that lay hidden in plain sight within the day-to-day lives of unsung Americans. With Chesapeake Requiem, his gift is on fine display. Here is a big story about a small place, a canary-in-the-coalmine tale that’s sad and beautiful, haunting and true.” (HAMPTON SIDES, New York Times bestselling author of In the Kingdom of Ice)“Deeply moving. ... Gorgeous. ... A truly remarkable book.” (BETH MACY, New York Times bestselling author of Dopesick and Truevine)“A provocative and respectful study of a culture that may soon be lost.” (Esquire, “The Best Nonfiction Books of 2018 (So Far)”)“Swift paints vivid portraits of both the natural environment and the individuals and institutions of this close-knit community. ... Harrowing and moving. ... A well-rounded portrait of a rural community both dependent on and threatened by its natural environment.” (Science)“Swift does such a good, interesting job of telling the stories of the people who live on this island. … He really gets [the] hard questions about the reality of climate change and … how we make decisions as a country and as a community about what we value.” (Heather Hansman, NPR’s All Things Considered)“One of the most powerful ways to tell the story of global climate change is to tell it local. And this meticulous, compassionate look at the fishermen and their families, who have for generations made a home on a tiny island in Chesapeake Bay, is a vivid portrait of what we are losing—and why we may fail to stop that loss.“ (Deborah Blum, NPR’s Science Friday) 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.
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.
Well written narrative of cultural exploration Couched as a "what the heck are they thinking" investigative report into the insular society of Tangier Island, this is really a portrait of an American community. Much emphasis is placed on how "different" and "unique" they are, but the overwhelming message is that the people of Tangier are pretty much just like everyone else. They cling to the past as part of their identity, believe what is convenient, hold opinions based on self-interest, and act like generally decent human beings while living in a challenging environment. The author asks, is this worth saving? And then spends the rest of the book making the emotional case that it is. Since he is looking for the reader to answer that question, as we all must as we support or reject the spending of public monies, my response is "no". There is, despite the author's -- and the Tangier inhabitants themselves' -- nostalgic yearnings, nothing special about this place or these people. Their forebears picked an unstable environment to plant themselves in, and it is time to move on. Cool that it is being documented, but it is just another blip in the history of the Bay.A gem that humanizes the plight and people of Tangier Island As I sit in my living room on Tilghman Island, Maryland reading over Swift's account, I struggle with the realization that his story has ended and that the end of Tangier Island too is near. I'm sad for both.Swift's reporting and objectivity on a very emotional subject are par excellence. I was struck by his ability to tell the story as an insider yet step outside that view to keep us from thinking he was too sentimental.Tilghman may very well be the first casualty in America of sea level rise that is caused by global warming but as we read the story it is natural to think that maybe the islanders's assumption of land erosion holds water, no pun intended.The most stunning revelation for me is that the image of a bygone civilization that survives to this day is completely wrong. The fact that this tiny island has been touched by the ugly hand of opioid addiction and drug dealing (as is the case here on Tilghman) shattered my perception of a place I'd like to escape to to flee the madness we face as a culture today.Nonetheless read the story and draw your own conclusions.Thanks Mr. Swift for a job well done.Well Done. Why Are The Islanders So Passive? I think Earl Swift did a great job with this. As a "come here," with the disadvantages that brings, he managed to win over the Tangier residents so they would confide in him and include him in their daily life. I think not everyone could do that so well. As a result, he painted a vivid picture of the people and their way of life.As a person who has spent some time boating on the bay, and experienced the weather challenges from time to time, I admire the grit and knowledge of these hard-working island people. I know I would be hard pressed to do the job they do in helping me have the crabs and oysters I enjoy so much. That's what surprises me about their passive acceptance of the changes they all see on the island, and look for others to do something about it. Swift describes very well the prevailing attitude that "something ought to be done," but then no one does it. And complaining that others aren't doing enough about their situation. That seems completely contrary to the first sentence of this paragraph.My family tree shows generations of people that moved from New England and Virginia, through the Midwest, and on to the West Coast as they sought to improve their prospects. Covered Wagon folks and Dust Bowl Okies did the same. Yet these Tangier people just hang on as things deteriorate, and blame someone else. Knowlng all the good things they do, makes this even harder to understand. Many are devoutly religious, and think all is in God's hands. But, God did give us brains and expects us to use them.I am sure the Tangier folks know what they are talking about when they describe erosion as one of their problems (I think that's all Ooker does recognize). Yet cities all around, including nearby Norfolk, see clear proof of sea level rise. Why would Tangier be exempt? Why can't Ooker and his fellow residents see that both are happening? Ooker and the other islanders may think he won the debate with Al Gore, but month by month they will see they are wrong. And the fact that they think our President gives this any thought at all, and will bail them out, is completely naive.When the village finally disappears we will all have lost something. Kudos to Swift for describing it so well. But, ultimately my take on the book is a sadness that these Tangier residents are just standing by and waiting for someone else to change things. Which probably will never happen. Yes, a new jetty here, and some other patchwork there, will prolong things a bit, but before long it will all just fade away. What's their plan for that?
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