Away Off Shore

By Nathaniel Philbrick

  “For everyone who loves Nantucket, this is the indispensable book.” – Russell Baker.

Originally published by Mill Hill Press in 1994, this local best-seller focuses on the people — great and obscure, famous and infamous — who inhabited the island during its days as the whaling empire of the world. Now reprinted in paperback by Penguin Books.  Now available 2011, $16.00 soft cover

TOWN FARMS & COUNTRY COMMONS

By Debra McManis
 

Town Farms and Country Commons tells the forgotten side of Nantucket's history:  the story of the people who worked the sandy soil and fed the island while others were pursuing whales, fish and maritime commerce. From the first Wampanoag gardeners through the English cattle promoters and the intense sheep industry of the 1800s, there were hard times and better ones, leading now to organic gardens and stands groaning with sweet native August corn.  McManis, through patient research and personal interviews, recounts the labor and ingenuity of the hardworking tillers of Nantucket, who for centuries have coaxed a living from their precious patch of land.  2010, $24.99 hardcover 

MARSHALL, THE SEA DOG: A HISTORY OF LIFESAVING AND NOTABLE NANTUCKET SHIPWRECKS

By Whitney Stewart and illustrated by Dennis Lyall

Marshall is a big, friendly Newfoundland who is rescued during a ferocious storm near the Nantucket shore. With the care and training of his new family and the surfmen of the United States Lifesaving Service, Marshall soon becomes a life-saving dog himself! Marshall's tale is based on a real-life story. 2010 $9.95 hardcover