John F. Blair, Publisher, continues its Real Voices, Real History(TM)
series with Voices from the Outer Banks. This volume presents the
actual words of the people who lived the uncommonly rich history of this
chain of barrier islands stretching from the Virginia border southward
through Cape Lookout. Readers will enjoy contemporary accounts of the
first British settlement in North America and the birth of the first
English child on American soil. They'll read 18th-century letters,
articles, and poems about the bloody death of Blackbeard, arguably the
most famous of all the pirates. They'll read the news account of the
first powered airplane flights in human history. And the editorial that
created America's first national seashore. And the words of family
members who once inhabited the nation's most iconic lighthouse--part of
a matched set of four. Topics include "the Graveyard of the Atlantic,"
in a nod to the rough waters that over the centuries have claimed
hundreds of vessels, and "Torpedo Junction," site of "the Great American
Turkey Shoot," the latter nickname bestowed by German submariners during
World War II. The volume includes first-person accounts of Civil War
battles, a freedmen's colony, hunt clubs that drew the first wealthy
tourists, and lifesavers who used horses to pull surfboats to the water
and fired lines by cannon to wrecked vessels. Readers will even hear
contemporary stories of the Boy Scout troop that rode ponies descended
from ancient shipwrecked animals.
Stephen Kirk was an editor at John F. Blair, Publisher, for 27 years. He
has a B.A. from St. Lawrence University and an M.F.A. from
UNC-Greensboro. A story he wrote while working on his M.F.A. appeared in
the Greensboro Review and was subsequently selected by John Updike for
reprinting in the Best American Short Stories series. Since then, he has
written First in Flight: The Wright Brothers in North Carolina and
Scribblers: Stalking the Authors of Appalachia. He lives in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
More often, however, Kirk wisely lets his "Voices" do the talking. The
result is a pocket volume which should make old Banks hands feel
nostalgic and strangers want to go. - Ben Steelman Star News Online
