Long Island and the Sea

摘要

Imagine a book written about a place by a professional journalist who, for more than three decades, has written about that location—where he was born, grew up, and has lived much of his life. This is that book. I had not even completed the introduction when I read that a 1985 US Supreme Court decision had officially designated Long Island NOT an island, but rather a peninsula. I had to stop and fact check that. To my astonishment I discovered that, indeed, United States v. Maine in 1985 had made just that determination. I was hooked. Bleyer's 250 pages of good reading are bolstered by 25 pages of notes on sources and a bibliography for further reading. Twenty-nine chapters are chronologically arranged and cover a period ranging from the coastal Algonquins to current maritime activity, including ongoing vessel restoration projects (the 1883 oyster sloop Christeen by the Waterfront Center in Oyster Bay) and the Southhold, New York-based international marine assistance organization known across the country, SeaTow.