The Last Fish Tale
The Fate of the Atlantic and Survival in Gloucester, America's Oldest Fishing Port and Most Original Town
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کتاب های مرتبط
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
Starred review from April 14, 2008
Bestselling author Kurlansky (Cod
; The Big Oyster
) provides a delightful, intimate history and contemporary portrait of the quintessential northeastern coastal fishing town: Gloucester, Mass., on Cape Anne. Illustrated with his own beautifully executed drawings, Kurlansky’s book vividly depicts the contemporary tension between the traditional fishing trade and modern commerce, which in Gloucester means beach-going tourists. One year ago, a beach preservation group enraged fishermen by seeking to harvest 105 acres of prime fishing ground for sand to deposit on the shoreline. Wealthy yacht owners compete with fishermen for prime dockage, driving up prices. Fishermen also contend with federal limits on their catches in an effort to maintain sustainable fisheries. But while cod are protected from extinction, the fishermen are not. Some boats must go 100 or more miles out to sea—a danger for small boats with few crew members. Tragedies abound, while one, that of the swordfish boat Andrea Gail,
documented by Sebastian Junger in A Perfect Storm,
brought even more tourists to Gloucester.
Starred review from June 15, 2008
Kurlansky's 1997 best seller, "Cod", was subtitled "A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World". His latest work can also be described as a biography, this time of the fishing town of Gloucester, MA. Although Gloucester is unique, its history serves as an exemplar of the changing nature of commercial fishing in the North Atlantic, especially regarding people, equipment, and target species. It also serves as a means of examining the problems of modern fishing towns as they try to find new ways of surviving in a world of collapsing fish populations without losing the best of their heritage. Kurlansky is a skillful writer, holding readers' interest and educating them at the same time with his mixture of facts, anecdotes, and even recipes. All of us, not just those living on the coast, should be aware of the issues he raises here. An excellent complement to the author's "Cod" and "Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell" as well as to Eric Jay Dolan's "Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America"; highly recommended for all public, high school, and college libraries. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 2/1/08; library marketing campaign planned.Ed.]Margaret Rioux, MBL/WHOI Lib., Woods Hole, MA
Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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