"A thorough and engaging history of Maine's rocky coast and its
tough-minded people."--Boston Herald
"[A] well-researched and well-written cultural and ecological
history of stubborn perseverance."--USA Today
For more than four hundred years the people of coastal Maine have clung
to their rocky, wind-swept lands, resisting outsiders' attempts to
control them while harvesting the astonishing bounty of the Gulf of
Maine. Today's independent, self-sufficient lobstermen belong to the
communities imbued with a European sense of ties between land and
people, but threatened by the forces of homogenization spreading up the
eastern seaboard.
In the tradition of William Warner's Beautiful Swimmers, veteran
journalist Colin Woodard (author of American Character: A History of
the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good)
traces the history of the rugged fishing communities that dot the coast
of Maine and the prized crustacean that has long provided their
livelihood. Through forgotten wars and rebellions, and with a deep
tradition of resistance to interference by people "from away," Maine's
lobstermen have defended an earlier vision of America while defying the
"tragedy of the commons"--the notion that people always overexploit
their shared property. Instead, these icons of American individualism
represent a rare example of true communal values and collaboration
through grit, courage, and hard-won wisdom.