Articles
Former Phillies pitcher goes lobstering, meets Red Sox Nation
Robin Roberts needs no introduction to baseball fans of the 1950s and `60s, even if you grew up in New England cheering for the Red Sox. As a boy I admired the big Phillies pitcher, now well over 70, who still looks as though he could throw a baseball through a wall. Just in case
The Last Voyage of Columbus
Little, Brown and Company, 2005 267 pages, paperback, $14.95 The High Voyage Five hundred years after the death of Christopher Columbus, one would think little new material is available. Martin Dugard, however, has given us a fresh look at “the Admiral’s” fourth and most extensive voyage. In his notes at the end of The Last
When Hollywood Came to Vinalhaven
In the summer of 1947 Henry King, one of Hollywood’s top directors, flew his plane over 1,000 miles along the Maine coastline, searching for just the right spot for his next film. An experienced pilot, King first observed Vinalhaven through a break in the clouds. Sixty years ago Henry King was considered by many to
An Inside Look at the Workings of the Royal Navy
There are 18 novels in the Ramage series, featuring the exploits of Lord Nicholas Ramage, an intrepid British Sea captain during the Napoleonic Wars. The novels cover the years 1796-1806, when England was locked in a brutal struggle with Napoleon’s France. Our first meeting with Ramage is in the middle of a naval battle off
Benedict Arnold’s Navy: The Ragtag Fleet that Lost the Battle of Lake Champlain but won the American Revolution
McGraw Hill, $32.95, 363 pages Before he betrayed his country… In September of 2005 I reviewed a novel by James Nelson called Thieves of Mercy for this newspaper. Nelson’s latest work is a dramatic, non-fiction account of Benedict Arnold’s contributions to the success of the American Revolution. The versatile author sets the tone for his
Sea of Thunder: Four Commanders and the Last Great Naval Campaign 1941 – 1945
Simon Schuster, $27.00 356 pages The Fog of War Sixty years after the end of World War II, we continue to see a steady stream of books dealing with a history of the war. My grandson gave me for Christmas Rick Atkinson’s An Army at Dawn, which is about the North African campaign in 1942-43.
Blueberries for Sale (With apologies to Robert McCloskey)
Just off Eggemoggin Reach in the town of Sedgwick there is a rambling old farmhouse on land originally owned by an 18th century sea captain. The farm, which sits on Christy Hill, looks out on the sea a mile and a half away. In 1970, Philadelphians Marge and Lou Paulmier bought a run-down house, a
When Towns Had Teams
287 pages, $17.95 A Delightful Look at Maine’s Baseball Past Jim Baumer has written an engagingly wistful book about a bygone era in Maine’s sporting history. When Towns had Teams describes the 30-year period following the end of World War II when men of all ages played baseball at the semi-pro and town team level
Nelson’s Trafalgar
Hardback, Viking Adult, 2005 392 pages, $27.95 The Battle of Trafalgar was fought two hundred years ago, on October 21, 1805, and has long been considered one of the pivotal naval battles in world history. This puts it in the select company of the Battle of Salamis (594 BC), the defeat of the Spanish Armada
Thieves of Mercy: A Novel of the Civil War at Sea
451 pages William Morrow $26.95 Naval Battles in the Age of Steam Over the past few years I have read and enjoyed James L. Nelson’s Revolution at Sea saga, a five-novel chronicle of the adventures of Captain Isaac Biddlecomb and his encounters with the British Navy. In Thieves of Mercy, a recent History Book Club