Cape Cod Book Reviews

Slavery and the Civil War through a Vineyarder's eyes

Seen The Glory: A Novel of Gettysburg

By Michael Phelps

Seen The Glory is a wonderful book and you should read it right away. The four and a half stars of five showing up at amazon.com this afternoon is more than a half a star light as you'll discover.

 Seen the Glory, John Hough, Jr., Simon & Schuster $25

Beach book? It is for sure--or back porch or wherever you go to relax and experience the quiet, solitary joy of reading historical military fiction with the strongest of human and humane elements. It's historical fiction that reflects the importance of having the history right but, the greater importance, perhaps, of getting the sense of time and place in synchronization with characters whose voices you can hear clearly in John Hough's prose.

Seen The Glory is a novel but also a work of scholarship, not just in the historical verisimilitude of the narrative but also, and importantly in the vernacular of the conversations among the characters in Martha's Vineyard and, especially, among the men in Union blue on the march and at war.

It is a story of Martha's Vineyard brothers, sons of an abolitionist father who's a doctor, who join the 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry and go to war, fight in Northern Virginia and march back north through Maryland to fight still again in Gettysburg. The young soldiers, their father and Rose, the Cape Verdean housekeeper whom each of the three men love in different ways, come to life not through description but through what they say and how they act and move and react to one another. It may have been a war between the states or a war over state sovereignty versus federalism to some but, to the Chandlers, it was a war to end slavery and bring justice to those who had been for nearly the first century of the Republic deprived of the "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" being enjoyed the forebears of the majority.

John Hough's story brings color and texture to the bone-draining fatigue of marching, the bugs, the knee-weakening fear and terror before the battle and the worse terror of what transpires when men kill each other in combat, hand-to-hand and eye-to-eye.

What others are saying about
"Seen the glory":
5/4 Publishers Weekly/ review: "[A] dramatic and tragic tale of Civil War-era brutality and suffering...Hough writes about the Civil War with a novelist's insight and a historian's eye...Amid the blood and fury of battle, a tender and poignant story of idealism, love and brotherly devotion shines through."
6/1 Booklist/ review: "Hough excels at re-creating the chaos, the confusion, and the brutality of war, and his searing, authentically rendered battle scenes should satisfy Civil War enthusiasts. A heartrending family saga wrapped up in an epic clash of armies and ideals."
6/15 Library Journal/ review: "Following in the footsteps of Michael Shaara's classic novel about Gettysburg, The Killer Angels, Hough's epic novel draws in the philosophical conundrums of a country at war and in which the lines among ideology, trust, and love can stand the barrage of battle."
7/10 Fort Worth Star Telegram (TX)/ review: "'Seen the Glory' offers a vivid and brutal glimpse into one of America's most famous battles...a gripping read."
7/1 York Dispatch/ review, feature, and event mention: "Hough's prose is unsparing in its detail and lovely in its rhythms... "Seen the Glory" makes the Battle of Gettysburg accessible and fascinating for non-history buffs, for those who want their action-packed summer reading more thought-provoking than the typical fare. It has its tender moments, too, poignant scenes that make a reader's breath catch. And always, always, it is moving toward that critical battle."
7/3 Barnstable Patriot/ review and event mention: "Hough's powerful war narrative kept me spellbound throughout the course of this fine and rewarding novel...Hough has an admirable ability to impart the small details that lend this narrative its heartbreaking immediacy."

The story is rich, the characters fulsome, the conveyed sense of time and place powerful and persuasive.

Full disclosure

By way, as they say, of full disclosure - Hiring a family member isn't always wrong but it's always tricky.

Writing a review of a book whose author is a good friend and whose father hired me to be newspaper reporter at The Falmouth Enterprise 38 years ago this coming Labor Day is way tougher.

And I resolved to default to not writing this review and telling my friend I could not and would not unless I found the book to be one that I could both cerebrally and passionately recommend.

John Hough made it easy for me.

Put down what you're doing and go get Seen The Glory. And read it.

Michael Phelp is the Publisher of the Washington Examiner. He began his career as a reporter and later Managing Editor of the Falmouth Enterprise and has held several top posts at some of America's best newspapers and newspaper groups. Among the stops on his flight was teaching journalism at Emerson College in Boston while being solicited by many of the nation's largest dailies to mentor their moves into the 21st century.

Mike even remade the industry trade journal Editor & Publisher about ten years ago before heading to the mid west as a vice president of Lee Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: LEE), and publisher of the Quad-City Times. In addition to his responsibilities as publisher in Davenport, Phelps oversaw newspapers in eastern Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Kentucky.

Today Mike is publisher of The Examiner in Washington, D.C. and The Baltimore Examiner.

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Finally, the ultimate Photo-Journalism book about Cape Cod

Kathryn Kleekamp met the challenge of writing a Cape Cod book to equal those went before
"Cape Cod and the Islands: Where Beauty and History Meet" is superb.

By Walter Brooks

As a young girl, Cape Cod painter and author Kathryn Kleekamp, grew up in an tall apartment building on a busy upper, east side New York City street.

Kathryn is self-taught and began her career seven years ago. This scene overlooking Round Cove in East Harwich is typical of her work and called "Where I want to be."

But one August when she was twelve her mother took her for a week's holiday to a cottage on the Atlantic shore in New Jersey where she sat on the porch in awe looking out at the vast majesty of the ocean.

You might say that week changed her life, because her painting and writing today reflect the wonder she must have felt on that long-gone day, but the metamorphosis didn't occur for almost half a century.

Kathryn had an education in biolgy, raised a family, a career as a clinical microbiologist at the Lahey Clinic until at 58 she began to paint.

While Mrs. Kleekamp's oils easily capture her emotional attachment to the sea, she has also written a text which eloquently pays homage to her love for Cape Cod and it's fragile environment.

Her new book is large (11'x9") does much more than show us her art which would deserve a book all by itself, but she has done something more remarkable. In fact, it's almost unique in the manner it combines art to history and Cape lore.

Prints are available at the following Cape Cod locations:
National Park Service Visitor Center, Eastham, Painted Daisies, East Sandwich, The Crooked Fence, Chatham, H. H. Snow's and Sons, Orleans.
The books are on sale at Brewster Book Store, Route 6-A, Brewster, My Sister's Gallery, Jarves Street, Sandwich, Titcomb's Book Shop, Route 6A East Sandwich, Where the Sidewalk Ends Book Shop. Main Street, Chatham, Market Street Book Shop, Steeple Street, Mashpee Commons, Mashpee, and from the author PO Box 1300, Sandwich, MA 02563, (508)833-1271.Please mail check for $29.99 and $3/book for shipping and handling.

Pleasing the eye, mind and palate

She has written short stories to surround her art and the art of others with a graceful terseness which equals any others in the field. This is not a coffee table book, although it could serve as one proudly. It is art and photography and antiques drawings with a page of text to explain the significance of each, and even a section of Cape Cod recipes.

The reader should visit her gallery or one of the shops and galleries which handle her art and this book in the sidebar on the right.

Any lover of our narrow land should rush to the bookstore listed to add this thing of beauty to his or her library.

This hardcover, 11 by 9-inches, volume has 176 pages with 159 images and illustrations, including 50 original oil paintings by the artist and many rare historic photos.

Despite its large size and original art, it sells for only $29.95 and is published by Schiffer Books, a firm famous for introducing new art and history volumes and well as Green titles, architecture, antiques and military history.

To whet your appetite Kathryn Kleekamp has kindly given us permission to share four chapters with you including three of her original painting created specifically for this booh:

The Cape Landscape,
Chapter One (p.14.)

Evening Marsh 2006, oil on canvas panel.

Marsh
"To feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines . . . to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be," Rachel Carson, Under the Sea Wind

Beach and ocean may first come to mind when considering the Cape Cod landscape, but the salt marshes surrounding the ocean's countless tributaries are the areas of true mystery and wonder. Those who find time to visit the marsh will discover a Zen-like calmness as languorous grasses dotted with sea lavender gently sway in the breeze, ducks paddle lazily on an open patch of water, a lone osprey circles overhead. Beyond the visual beauty, it's the unique ability of marsh plants and animals to tolerate vast extremes in natural conditions that is truly impressive. No other habitat in nature is more dramatic or stressful. Flowing ocean tides bring fluctuations in salinity and variable water inundation. Summer temperatures on the marsh can vary over 50 degrees in a few hours when the cool water retreats and the sun bakes the earth.

A salt marsh is formed by the arrival of a seed of grass called Spartina alterniflora. The grass grows and spreads by means of a subterranean rhizome system. As roots are formed, they become dense and encourage the deposition of sediment and decayed material. This begins to create a terrestrial land mass and as other salt tolerant grasses invade, the area grows and meadows form. Between these meadows are creeks that have an extremely abundant and diverse population of plants and sea creatures. Mussels grow readily and can be quite densely packed. The byssal threads or silky filaments secreted by these mollusks bind the sediment and further enhances the growth of Spartina. Another common salt marsh resident, the fiddler crab, also aids in Spartina growth by burrowing and aerating the sediment.

Marsh estuaries are the spawning grounds and nursery areas for 75% of commercial and recreational fish species such as striped bass, bluefish and flounder. Untold thousands of other tiny fish like mummichogs or sticklebacks who spend their lives in the marsh can be seen on closer observation. Hermit crabs scurry along the intertidal mudflats. Snails hold fast to their lodging at the base of the salty cord grass stems; sparrows and red-winged blackbirds nest in tidal marshes. Herons and snowy egrets visit the marsh attracted by the elaborate menu of seafood.

Safeguarding Those at Sea ~ Lighthouses
Chapter Seven (p.97.)

Caption: Sandy Neck Light, 2007, oil on canvas.

In the early 1800s, Barnstable Harbor was an active trade and fishing port. The first light station, built on the west side of the harbor in 1827, consisted of a wooden lantern on the roof of a keeper's house. Its fixed light welcomed Barnstable fishermen from nine miles out on Cape Cod Bay. It shone for three decades until replaced by the brick tower (painted white) that stands today. Although lighthouse keepers were for the most part men, many brave women undertook the role; usually after a husband or father died. In the winter of 1862, keeper Thomas Baxter was struggling to navigate his dory through the ice clogged waters of Barnstable harbor when he badly injured his leg. After it became gangrenous and led to death, his wife Lucy took over his responsibilities. She was an able caretaker from 1862 to 1867 while raising her three children in the keeper's house.

The Outermost House
(Chapter One: The Cape Landscape)

   The Outermost House, oil on canvas.

"Nature is a part of our humanity, and without some awareness and
experience of that divine mystery man ceases to be man."
Henry Beston, The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod

There have always been individuals who isolated themselves from the modern world and sought inspiration and restoration by living in a beach cottage.

Cape Cod has produced many fine authors who have shared such an experience. Among these, two stand out.

In 1926, writer and naturalist Henry Beston built a simple two-room dwelling on a cliff overlooking the outer beach in Eastham.

He intended to spend a couple of weeks there but later wrote, "The fortnight ending, I lingered on, and as the year lengthened into autumn, the beauty and mystery of this earth and outer sea so possessed and held me that I could not go."

Beston considered himself a "writer/naturalist" and is thought to be one of the fathers of the modern environmental movement. His book,

The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod, was an inspirational force in the creation of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

In his foreword to the eleventh printing of the book he wrote, "Bird migrations, the rising of the winter stars out of the breakers and the east, night and storm, the solitude of a January day, the glistening of dune grass in midsummer, all this is to be found between the covers even as today it is still to be seen."

Driven by the relation of nature to the human spirit he tells us, "Nature is a part of our humanity, and without some awareness and experience of that divine mystery man ceases to be man."

Years later, after beach erosion forced its move, the Fo'c‘sle (Beston's name for his cottage) was relocated inland. Nan Waldron Turner was another who was drawn to the natural world and spent the equal of a year there counting her visits over sixteen years beginning in 1961.

She chronicled her experiences in Journey to the Outermost House. Nan's daughter, Les Waldron, shared her own recollections of staying in the house (personal communication with Kathryn)

Outermost wasn't just a cottage. It had a different purpose...a very different reason for being. It was a courageous little safe-harbor far along a spit of sand with no electricity or amenities save hand pump and gas lights.

One chose to stay there (without cell phones) knowing there was not imminent rescue or neighbor to call. The house, and its guests endured, baked by the sun, plagued by insects, beaten by rain, ice, tides and pelting sand.

It was the symbol of modest human presence slipped into the raw world of natural wonder...humbling to say the least.

Thankfully, both books endure. The Outermost House was washed out to sea in the great blizzard of 1978.

Cape Wind
(Chapter Eight: Realizing Dreams)

   Simulation of the Nantucket wind Farm as seen from Cotuit, MA. Courtesy Jim Gordon

In the early 19th century windmills were spread over the entire Cape landscape. They ground corn and were used extensively to pump sea water for hundreds of salt works vital to the Cape economy.

Jim Gordon, an experienced power plant developer, and 21st century visionary would like to see the return of wind power.

By harnessing the forceful winds of Nantucket Sound on the southern border of Cape Cod, he realizes the potential of generating clean, renewable electricity.

His company, Cape Wind Associates, announced a plan to build America's first offshore wind farm in 2001. The project can provide 75% of the electrical needs of the Cape and Islands.

One hundred and thirty slender turbines generating on average170 megawatts and a peak output of 420 megawatts of renewable power would be spread a half mile apart over 24 square miles.

Gordon relates, "While this project is only a first step, it's a significant one toward lowering United States' dependence on foreign oil.

Also important, it would reduce harmful air pollution that otherwise would come from oil and coal burning power plants."

The wind farm will avoid carbon dioxide emissions by almost a million tons per year by replacing fossil fuels.

Unlike the 1800s when there were no permitting requirements to put up a windmill, Cape Wind has undergone seven years of investigation by at least fifteen local, state and federal permitting agencies.

Dozens of environmental groups including the Conservation Law Foundation, Greenpeace and the Union of Concerned Scientists support the project.

Although polls indicate most people are in favor of wind power and clean energy, a powerful group of citizens on Cape Cod and the Islands are concerned about visual appearance and property values.

They have formed a group to oppose the project. Thousands of others have organized to support the project's merits. It's a very divisive issue locally and as the drama plays out only time will reveal the outcome of Jim Gordon's dream.

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Tour the Cape with an Eleventh Generation Cape Codder

Tour the Cape with an Eleventh Generation Cape Codder

Are you looking for a clear, concise (almost complete) tour of Cape Cod? Something  without neon signs to tourist traps and clam shacks?  This might just be the tour  book for you.

Andy Buckley's new "Tours of Cape Cod" is as refreshingly laid back as the peninsula  he writes about.

Buckley, a self-labeled Renaissance Man (his resume must be at least eight pages  long) and lifetime Cape resident, has compiled six must-see tours of the Cape. Some  by bike, some by car, some on foot--something to please and/or accommodate everyone. 

In Buckley's opening he admits these Tours of Cape Cod are not complete because he  has left out entire towns.  His omission was strategic--if he added a town, the tour  would graduate from walking to driving and so forth.  No worries, the true explorer  will surely discover these ignored towns on his/her own.

The author's style is straightforward, even New England Yankee in tone.  It's a no  nonsense guide to historic places.  Each tour starts with very important information:  whether you will need your car, bike or comfy shoes and the locations of public  bathrooms. 

Each location includes a web address (if applicable) and contact information, because  as Buckley points out, and we Cape Codders know all to well, hours aren't exactly  regular around here.  Heck, I've seen signs on stores that say, "We are open Tuesday  and Wednesday around 11ish."  So be warned travelers!  Although the majority of you  will be here in the summer when thing are about as regular as they are going to get.

"You've driven by many sea captains' homes, now it's time to actually go in  one."

Buckley's objective is clear, he wants you to see the important stuff--the historic  stuff and truthfully, a beautiful hike or a gorgeous sunset isn't going to hurt you  either.  And let's face it, it all kind of started here (Anglo-wise) with those pesky  Pilgrims. 

He'll guide you to the good stuff with plenty of interesting facts peppered with  humor and personal anecdotes.  As he guides you to the Captain Bangs Hallet House he  quips, "you've driven by many sea captains' homes, now it's time to actually go in  one."

This is a good solid guide, with detailed tours of Chatham, the Upper Cape, Route 6A,  Provincetown and more.  Great for new visitors and a good refresher for those of us  who have been here for years.

Tours of Cape Cod is available at local bookstores and through Schiffer Publishing.  ISBN: 978-0-7643-3023-0, $19.99.

Andy Buckley is a novelist, politican, op-ed columnist, photographer, game designer,  clamdigger and investigator, not to mention an eleventh generation Cape Codder.   Check out his blog here on CapeCodToday.com and visit his site for maps and video of areas featured in the book.

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"A Summer with Socrates" is a great beach book

A Summer Chase in New Suspense Novel by Cape Writer
A summer resident blesses us with his new thriller

By Walter Brooks

Whoever said this suspense novel would make a great movie was right. How about Clint Eastwood or Anthony Hopkins as Socrates or even Robin Williams as a long shot? Hillary Swank could play the girl.

Parker Lloyd is a journalist who happily is a summer resident of Brewster and writes like Michael Connelly on steroids. Parker Lloyd’s “A Summer with Socrates” wasn’t what I expected. I thought I would be transported to the Agora Marketplace on the flank of the Parthenon in 350 B.C. as a young lad picking the brain of the philosopher.

Reno 911 and then some

No, it’s not set in Athens, Greece, but in a mythical place called Athens, Nevada, outside Reno in the 21st century.

This is not a novel loaded with gratuitous sex although there is one beautiful love scene described under the moonlight at the Parthenon. This is a rare piece of literary substance with a compelling story that kept me turning the pages.

The plot revolves around an older man, nicknamed Socrates by his students, and a runaway young woman. Socrates is homeless and lives in the hills outside Reno. He built a Greek style theater to teach the Socratic method of thinking to the homeless of Reno. He has escaped a crime for twenty years. His real identity is never revealed until near the end.

Touching, heart wrenching "escaped wife" chase

The last two chapters had me agog with emotion. Women will empathize and love it. Men will be enlightened by it.A young woman has run away from her family for reasons that can’t be revealed here. Socrates saves her from being taken by the police, but the FBI is closing in on him too, so he and the girl go bicycling in the California Sierras and in Nevada, panning for gold over the summer. He shares his wealth of wisdom with her.

Her story is gradually unraveled throughout the novel. She knows only the bare facts about his life.  The opening chapters about her escape from a failed marriage to a powerful DC man is frightening and timely. I think the author got me under the skin of a "captive wife" beater than ever before.

Women will empathize and love it. Men will be enlightened by it.

Finally, Socrates is captured and a trial takes place in Reno not unlike the one in Ancient Greece in 399 B.C.

Here I am, a full-blooded, tough-minded newspaperman with tears in my eyes at the end. There’s something wrong. I’m not supposed to cry. The last two chapters had me agog with emotion. The story is great, but sad in parts.

Summer or winter, “A Summer with Socrates” is a good read. If this is Parker Lloyd’s first novel, I want more, and I want to see this one as a movie. And I like the cover—full of bright summer colors too, like Socrates' story.

You can get it on Amazon or at the Brewster Bookstore.

Read it, ladies and gentlemen.

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Cape author ahead of the campaign curve

Brewster's Libby Hughes' new Barack Obama biography
Author has lived in subject's venues - Kenya and Indonesia

Here it comes--the 13th biography in Libby Hughes’ collection of international heroes and heroines for young adults. This one is about the political rock star, Barack Obama, coming into the homestretch of his long campaign for the Democratic coronation as the nominee for U.S. president.

Already, Obama is sparring against Republican John McCain before his delegates have knighted him at the convention and Libby Hughes is ahead of the political curve again.

Anyway, this book, Barack Obama: Voice of Unity, Hope, and Change, is a quick read. You won’t have to wade through a tome to get to the Obama basics: where he comes from; his childhood; his adolescence; his brilliance at Harvard; his struggles as a community organizer in the poorest area of Chicago; his knack for winning over opponents in the Illinois senate and the U.S. Senate. You will discover what makes him tick and what his spiritual and political philosophies are. It’s an incredible story with backdrops from Hawaii, Indonesia, Kenya, Illinois, and D.C.

"Libby Hughes captures his extraordinary appeal to citizens of all ages, especially the young.” - Ted KennedyHughes gives you historic teasers about each of the three continents in colorful descriptions. Having lived in Indonesia and Kenya, Hughes has firsthand knowledge of Obama’s foreign experience and roots. She managed to capture quotes for the front and back covers of the book from Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts; Harvard Law professor, Laurence H. Tribe; and former book editor of The Christian Science Monitor, Roderick Nordell.

Here are the quotes:

“Barack Obama has a unique ability to inspire us, lift our spirits, and bring people of all backgrounds together to do great things for our country. In Barack, I see not just the audacity of hope, but the possibility of hope for the better America we can be. Libby Hughes captures his extraordinary appeal to citizens of all ages, especially the young.”

                                                                                - Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts

“Barack Obama never failed to amaze me when he was my student. His brilliance and his devotion to public service remain sources of inspiration to me. I cannot imagine anyone better suited to be President of the United States.”

- Laurence H. Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Harvard Law School 

“This book takes you into the complex ethnic and political life of Barack Obama and should leave the young—or any other—reader full of his ‘audacity of hope.’ ”

                                - Roderick Nordell, former book editor, The Christian Science Monitor

The book cover says it all. Watch for it on Amazon in June.

P.S. Don’t forget Richard Nixon negotiated directly with Mao Tse Tung—a communist.  Former Secretary of State, George Shultz, recently told Charlie Rose in an interview that the way to negotiate with Iran is to have a highly skilled American lawyer QUIETLY talk with one of their Iranian lawyers and hammer out the issues before ever reaching the face to face fanfare. AND away from the media.

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American Genius: An impressive study of the impressive life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

American Genius: An impressive study of the impressive life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

American Genius by Libby Hughes and Marian R. Carlson is the biography of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Probably best known as a poet and educator, Longfellow is what the authors refer to as a "multi-culturalist" and a "citizen of the world".  He was born on February 27 in 1807 in Portland, ME and lived what would be considered a privileged life of family, travel and education.

From a young age, Longfellow was interested in writing poetry--an interest and talent he would hone his entire life. In fact, his first poem was published at the tender age of 13, only a year before he would attend Bowdoin, Maine's first college.  After graduating from Bowdoin he traveled extensively in Europe immersing himself in foreign languages for the professorship he accepted his alma mater.

While teaching at Bowdoin, Longfellow continued to write and married his beloved Mary Storer Potter in 1831. Tragically, Mary died only four years later while the couple was in Europe.  Her untimely death sent the poet into a tailspin of depression.

Through his sadness, he continued to write poetry and eventually accepted a prestige teaching position at Harvard.  His position meant a move to Cambridge and a courtship and marriage in 1841 to the second love of his life, a woman from a prominent Cambridge family by the name of Fanny Appleton. 

The couple had five children and a wonderful life together until Fanny passed away in 1861.  In 1854 the popularity of his writing brought wealth and renown to Longfellow and he was able to resign from Harvard and concentrate solely on his writing.

During his life, Longfellow wrote many beautiful, dramatic works such as The Wreck of the Hesperus about an actual shipwreck off Gloucester and probably one of his best known, Paul Revere's Ride:

Listen my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere

His poem were often whimsical, such as The Children's Hour, and at times romantic, as in the Courtship of Miles Standish which told the love story of John and Priscilla Alden--ancestors on his mother's side.

However, the themes of some of Longfellow's works still ring true today.  In his time, pre-Civil War, the country was besot with social and political hot button issues and as a multi-culturist, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was passionate about those very topics including slavery and the rights of Native Americans.

His strong opposition to slavery is evident in The Witnesses and the Slave Singing at Midnight as is his compassion for the Native American in his epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. Longfellow's stance on these and other social issues makes one wonder what he would choose to write about today.   From The Witnesses:

These are the bones of Slaves;
They gleam from the abyss;
They cry, from yawning waves,
"We are the Witnesses!"

American Genius is a biography intended for young adult readers.  Hughes and Carlson offer a well-rounded, in depth study of one of America's greatest poets.  Although intended for younger readers, Genius is also a great refresher for adults.  The book is of particular importance this year, as 2007 marks the Bicentennial of Longfellow's birth. 

This Thanksgiving, why not pick up a copy of American Genius and learn about the man who wrote the Song of Hiawatha?

American Genius is available through Amazon and select bookstores. 

**** 

About the authors:

Libby Hughes is an author, editor, lyricist and award-winning playwright. Several of her plays have been produced off Broadway.  Hughes has penned several other books for young adults including biographies of Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher and Tiger Woods among others.  For CapeCodToday, Hughes reviews plays and serves at the "Boston Bureau" writer.  She divides her time between Cambridge and Cape Cod.  Visit her site here to purchase American Genius and other books and plays.

Marian R. Carlson is a writer, educator and founder of the Young Writer's Club. She published over 100 articles as a syndicated columnist for an international newspaper. As a literature and writing teacher, over 50 of her students have been published in national children's magazines. Recently, Carlson has participated in a two year national grant to write educational programs on Longfellow for the Maine Historical Society.  Carlson divides her time between Cambridge and Cape Cod.  Visit her site here or here for more information on Longfellow. 

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Cape Cod Books That Go Bump in the Night

'Tis that time of the year when things that go bump in the night bump just a little louder and more often, especially on Cape Cod.  As you prepare for your annual Halloween party or trick or treat, why not take a moment and relax with a book from this season's crop of ghostly Cape Cod tales?

We've put together a list of sure to be favorites--all ghoulishly fun.  From haunted sea captain's homes to ballpark phantoms, you'll surely find something to give you a creepy Cape Cod chill.

Haunted Pubs of New England: Raising Spirits of the Past, deals with two of this reviewer's favorite topics, spirits and spirits.  Author Roxie J. Zwicker takes the reader on a whirlwind tour of some of New England's oldest watering holes.  Haunted Pubs reads like a Fodors of spirited salons, seventeen pubs in six states including detailed historic information as well as menu reviews of many of the locations.  After all, ghost hunting can make any parapsychologist a bit peckish. 

Included are some of the Cape's oldest taverns including the Old Yarmouth Inn on Route 6A in Yarmouth Port where glasses are rumored to glide along the tavern bar, doors swing open on their own and servers hear their names uttered in empty rooms.  And you won't want to miss a evening of jazz at the Duck Creeke Tavern where spirits are thought to join in and jam.

Haunted Pubs of New England: Raising Spirits of the Past, published by History Press, is available at local bookstores and online.  ISBN 978-1-59629-281-9

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The next is not a book at all, but a clever card game from Cockle Cove Press, the publishers of the Cape Cod Haunted Map and Cape Encounters.  Illustrated by Ethan Renoe, a 17 year old from Osterville who aspires to one day illustrate comic books, and designed by Christine Antonellis, Scary Cape Creatures is a game of strategy featuring delighfully spooky drawings.

Local folklore comes to life as Cape Cod creatures, ghosts, pirates, witches and Native American spirits come to life and do battle using the "fourfold powers of nature".  As you hone your skills, learn interesting "facts" about the likes of such creatures as the Maskanako, the Pamet Puma and night hags.  

Play your cards right and you and your family will have many an interesting tale to tell around the campfire.  The Scary Cape Creatures card game is the perfect addition to any Cape Cod cottage's game cupboard.  

The game, a collaboration between Gary Joseph, Dan Gordon and Ethan Renoe, is designed for 2-4 players and is recommended for ages 8 and up.  It is available at select book and gift shops Cape-wide or by contacting Cockle Cove Press.       

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It's back to Yarmouth for a delightful collection of ghostly encounters courtesy of the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth (HSOY).  Ghosts, Myths and Legends: As Told to the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth is a very personal collection of stories from residents and workers in this very historic town. 

Although containing stories from all of Yarmouth as well as a few towns beyond, some of the book's most intriguing tales come from Yarmouth Port.  Old King's Highway or Route 6A winds its way through an impressive assortment of old sea captain's homes, some now private residences, others retail stores, restaurants and charming B&Bs in Yarmouth Port.  Many tell tales of ghostly voices, footsteps and of objects either disappearing or moving of their own accord.

It is interesting though that most of the people sharing their stories, don't feel frightened or menaced.  Several of the ghosts seem to be protecting their homes, often showing approval (and at times disapproval) of changes made in their homes.  Many of the home and business owners have almost reached an understanding with their otherworldly boarders.

Pick up a copy of Ghosts, Myths and Legends--you just might learn a little something about a neighbor or two.

The book was edited by Nancy Cacioppo and compiled by Nancy Cacioppo, Joel Chaison, Donna Cote, Sally Jackson, Duncan Oliver, Wendy Prange and Maureen Rukstalis. ISBN: 978-0-9625068-6-4 

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This week's Red Sox World Series win has everyone interested in baseball--even ghost hunters.  Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends and Eerie Events by Mickey Bradley and Dan Gordon (c0-author of  Cape Encounters) have penned a collection featuring the eerie side of America's favorite pastime.  The authors, Bradley a Yankees fan (try to overlook it) and Gordon a diehard Red Sox fan, interviewed more than eight hundred players, managers and coaches as well as stadium workers and fans to expose the supernatural side of the baseball diamond.

You won't be able to stop turning the pages as you read personal accounts of some of your favorite players, many formerly of the Cape Cod Baseball League.  The stories told within in these pages show, a love of baseball and of historic parks such as Boston's beloved Fenway that may very possibly extend into the afterlife.

Haunted Baseball, published by The Lyons Press, is available at local bookstores and online. ISBN 978-1-59921-022-3.

See a list of local bookstores here.   

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Outermost Audio: Listen to Henry Beston in Your Car or at the Beach

Beston's natural masterpiece now available as unabridge audio

by Maggie Kulbokas

I am a fan of audiobooks.  In fact, I frequently bemoan my 14 minute commute because it's not even enough time for a chapter or two. 

Therefore, I was happy when an audio version of Henry Beston's The Outermost House: a Year of Life on the Great Beach of  Cape Cod crossed my desk for review. 

I must confess I've never read Beston's ode to the natural forces and beauty of Eastham's oceanside.  Please don't tell the members of The Henry Beston Society.  I never understood their reverence for the book and the man who wrote it, but I do now.

Over the course of one afternoon, I settled in and listened to the unabridged audio version of this incredible book.  Unlike watching a movie, listening to an audio version is very similar to reading a book or story.  It allows you to be transported to a different place and time and to use your imagination when visualizing scenes and events.

The audio version of Outermost was produced by Silver Hollow Audio with the permission of Beston's daughter, Kate Barnes.  Outermost is first in a line of nature/place stories Silver Hollow Audio plans to produce.  Beston's book is narrated by Brett Barry, part of the husband and wife team who established Silver Hollow audio two years ago. 

Henry Beston is one of the best known and admired "writer-naturalist" of the twentieth century.  A visitor to Eastham, in 1925 he set out to build a house in the dunes of Nauset about two miles south of the Coast Guard station.  In 1926, Beston went to stay at his new, 20x16 home amid the dunes.  Intending to stay only two weeks, Beston remained in his tiny home dubbed Fo'Castle for what would be an entire year.

From the house in the dunes, Beston focused his energies on nature writing and observed his surroundings through the changing seasons.  From the harshest cold to the most blistering heat, Beston wrote of the birds and the waves, the fish and the winds as he encountered them during his stay.  The self-proclaimed "vagabond of the dunes" spent most of his time with nature as his steady companion with occasional visits from the Coast Guard officers and folks in town when he went for supplies.

Beston's words are vivid and precise and it is impossible to not get caught up in his love, enthusiasm and respect for the wilds around him.  As his time in the dunes drew to a close, Beston wrote, "...And because I had known this outer and secret world and been able to live as I had lived, reverence and gratitude greater and deeper than ever possessed me."

Beston eventually left the Outermost House in 1927 and spent the next year perfecting what would be his masterpiece.  The book was published in 1928 and his Cape Cod house was named a National Literary Landmark in 1964, four years before Beston's death.  Fo'Castle was destroyed by a winter storm in 1978. 

Silver Hollow's audio version of Outermost is a thoughtful, impressive presentation of Beston's timeless book.  The narrator, Brett Barry's voice is warm and inviting.  His smooth narration allows you to see the beach, smell the salt air and hear the wind whipping through the sand and the waves crashing against the shore.  His voice combined with Beston's clever and revealing use of words transports you to the Fo'Castle, where you can actually smell the coffee brewing on the stove in the tiny kitchen. 

Whether you are reading this groundbreaking book for the first time or the tenth, you will surely enjoy this unabridged, audio version presented by Silver Hollow.

The audio book is available as a set of five CDs including an interview with Beston's biographer, Dr. Daniel G. Payne for $29.95 on the Silver Hollow Audio website here.   A downloadable digital version will also be made available.  Listen to an audio clip on the Silver Hollow site here.

For more on Henry Beston and the Outermost House, click here and here.

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Yet another review of "Cape Wind", the book

"Another of our agreed-upon fantasies is that we do not have a class system in the United States. The Few who control the Many through Opinion have simply made themselves invisible." - Gore Vidal, "The Decline and Fall of the American Empire"

Americans are visibly uncomfortable about the notion of a class system. It seems antithetical to our status as a democratic society and the enduring Horatio Alger myth of upward mobility. Authors Robert Whitcomb and Wendy William, however, are not demure about addressing the taboo subject head-on. Their "Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound" (PublicAffairs, $26.95) makes clear that "them that got" travel in rarefied circles, wielding rolodexes and club memberships that give them dizzying access to power.
Perhaps the most shocking instance of NIMBY-ism rests with the Kennedy clan., specifically that liberal lion Ted Kennedy and his nephew, alleged environmental advocate and, to some, certified windbag, Robert Kennedy Jr. Threatening and cajoling his colleagues in Congress, business contacts and fellow Massachusetts Democrats, Kennedy's efforts to deep-six the project are truly Herculean

The book centers on the machinations of the Cape Cod elite - a group whose tangled network of familial and social alliances call to mind an Edith Wharton novel, but whose WASP-y belligerence could have been lifted from "Caddyshack" - to derail a promising proposal to build a wind farm off the coast of the resort community. Written in a pithy style, the book is a revelatory examination of the intersection of politics and class. Emerging from their cocoon of privilege to wage an all-out war on those who would dare erect wind turbines in their sailing grounds, a cabal of American aristocrats and Wall Street tycoons inadvertently made it perfectly clear to anyone following the battle following the battle on the Cape that on the Cape that  

...Practical matters aside, when the Cape Wind opponents do launch their opening salvos, the viciousness of their attacks on Gordon and his fellow Cape Wind supporters is truly staggering. Their aggressive campaign pulls out all the stops. Under the auspice of a grassroots organization called the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound, the wind farm opponents quickly launch an all-out public relations war in which hyperbole quickly crosses the line into out and out mendacity.

Among their outrageous contentions were accusations that the turbines pose a danger to whales, a quote falsely attributed to the Sierra Club describing turbines as "Cuisinarts of the air," and a bizarre insistence that the Sound is the economic hub of New England (a claim that conveniently ignores, say, Boston).   Read the eintire review in this week's Block Island Times here.

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