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6%OFFEric Jay Dolin - Brilliant Beacons - 9780871406682 - V9780871406682
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Brilliant Beacons

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Description for Brilliant Beacons Hardback. In a work rich in maritime lore and brimming with original historical detail, Eric Jay Dolin, the best-selling author of Leviathan, presents an epic history of American lighthouses, telling the story of America through the prism of its beloved coastal sentinels. Num Pages: 560 pages, 112 illustrations; 8 pages of color. BIC Classification: 1KBB; HBJK; TRLN; WGG. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 244 x 170 x 38. Weight in Grams: 960.

Set against the backdrop of an expanding nation, Brilliant Beacons traces the evolution of America's lighthouse system from its earliest days, highlighting the political, military, and technological battles fought to illuminate the nation's hardscrabble coastlines. Beginning with "Boston Light," America’s first lighthouse, Dolin shows how the story of America, from colony to regional backwater, to fledging nation, and eventually to global industrial power, can be illustrated through its lighthouses.

Even in the colonial era, the question of how best to solve the collective problem of lighting our ports, reefs, and coasts through a patchwork of private interests and independent localities telegraphed the great American ... Read more

In rollicking detail, Dolin treats readers to a memorable cast of characters, from the penny-pinching Treasury official Stephen Pleasonton, who hamstrung the country's efforts to adopt the revolutionary Fresnel lens, to the indomitable Katherine Walker, who presided so heroically over New York Harbor as keeper at Robbins Reef Lighthouse that she was hailed as a genuine New York City folk hero upon her death in 1931. He also animates American military history from the Revolution to the Civil War and presents tales both humorous and harrowing of soldiers, saboteurs, Civil War battles, ruthless egg collectors, and, most important, the lighthouse keepers themselves, men and women who often performed astonishing acts of heroism in carrying out their duties.

In the modern world of GPS and satellite-monitored shipping lanes, Brilliant Beacons forms a poignant elegy for the bygone days of the lighthouse, a symbol of American ingenuity that served as both a warning and a sign of hope for generations of mariners; and it also shows how these sentinels have endured, retaining their vibrancy to the present day. Containing over 150 photographs and illustrations, Brilliant Beacons vividly reframes America's history.

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Product Details

Format
Hardback
Publication date
2016
Publisher
WW Norton & Co United States
Number of pages
560
Condition
New
Number of Pages
560
Place of Publication
, United States
ISBN
9780871406682
SKU
V9780871406682
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-15

About Eric Jay Dolin
Eric Jay Dolin is the best-selling and award-winning author of numerous works in maritime history, including Leviathan, Rebels at Sea, and Black Flags, Blue Waters. He lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Reviews for Brilliant Beacons
"A marvelously interesting and entertaining narrative…A skillful dramatist of such events, Dolin is as good a portraitist of characters who built and kept lighthouses…Dolin moves forward to chronicle the construction of numerous impressive towers in wildly windswept, picturesque settings. These classic lighthouses, featured in the book’s many illustrations, and the keepers’ tales attached to them exert an ineffably romantic attraction ... Read more

Goodreads reviews for Brilliant Beacons


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