A collection of environmental essays about the Chesapeake Bay, by a
reporter for the Baltimore Sun. Horton's sincere appreciations of
the places and people of the Chesapeake Bay are touching and even
illuminating on a limited scale, but rarely do they rise far enough
above regional environmental journalism to present a more broadly
compelling vision of nature. The author certainly knows his
subjects - the birds, fish, plants, landscape, and people of the
Bay - and there is no doubt that his extensive information about
them will be valuable for future generations of local citizens and
reporters, not to mention tourists to the area. But there is
something disappointing about a book with as vast a scope as
Horton's that is at once so factually dense and so rhetorically and
intellectually narrow. We feel, somehow, that we have heard all
this before. The best essay, on isolated Smith Island, gives a
relatively complete picture of a stubborn, isolated race of
fishermen trying to make the best of things in a world that keeps
sending its television cameras in to film them. Here, one feels,
Horton has had the chance to focus on a single place and group of
people over an extended period of time, and to combine his
impressions into a complex, coherent discussion. But even here his
writing never quite breaks through the haze of nostalgia that
somehow prevents this nature writer from seeing the sunshine of an
original idea. Horton's ears are attuned to the wonder in the
Chesapeake Bay, but unfortunately his translations leave something
to be desired. (Kirkus Reviews)
"Must reading in a city that reinvented itself by seeking
itsharbor roots." -- "Baltimore Magazine."
"Mr. Horton -- a Baltimore journalist who has developed a
devoted but hitherto local following -- ventures into a small,
distinguished circle of nature writers. Fans of Aldo Leopold, John
McPhee and Sigurd Olson won't be disappointed. This is not merely a
book for those who already know the Chesapeake, although they will
be enchanted by Tom Horton's vast knowledge, narrative skills and
eye for detail. Like the true bay native he is, Mr. Horton uses the
Chesapeake as a limitless resource from which to harvest a great
bounty of observations about politics, nature, and human beings."
-- "New York Times Book Review."
"Sailing down the Chesapeake in this book is bracing, for Horton
is knowledgeable, thoughtful, full of wonder about the natural
world and outspoken... As Smith Islanders might say, it's a 'right
smart' book." -- "Washington Post."
"
Maryland Paperback Bookshelf."
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