"Legendary Lighthouses - The Companion to the PBS Television Series"
The Globe Pequot Press
P.O. Box 833
Old Saybrook, CT 06475
1998
(800) 243-0495
http://www.globe-pequot.comJohn Grant and Bruce Roberts
ISBN 0-7627-0325-3
Soft cover, 8 1/2" X 11", 200 pages, $24.95 U.S. (You'll be able to obtain it for less from any of the on-line booksellers)
This book is about the romance and history of lighthouses, their keepers, restorationists, and enthusiasts. As such, it's a story full of history and adventure rather than a photographic compilation of lighthouses.
Designed as a companion to the six hour Public Broadcast System television series, this book can, however, stand on its own merits as a chronicle of the people and structures which evoke wind-swept rocky coasts and which are generating such a wave of lighthouse enthusiasm lately.
Chapters:
1. What is it about lighthouses?
2. North Atlantic: Legends in stone.
3. Maine: Lights downeast.
4. South Atlantic: Graveyard of the Atlantic.
5. California: Lights of the golden coast.
6. Pacific Northwest: Lights of the wilderness coast.
7. Western Great Lakes: Lights on the big lakes.
Index
Pros: heavy glossy card stock, many stunning photographs by famous lighthouse photographer Bruce Roberts, numerous aerial photos, regional maps, wonderful stories.
Cons: some of the non-Roberts photos are of average quality, having been taken from the video tape.
This volume does not offer a comprehensive listing of all U.S. lighthouses, nor is it intended to. It's more of a sampler with accompanying stories, all of which are fascinating. (The eight-volume set of lighthouse books with photos by Bruce Roberts will satisfy the need for a more complete listing and photographic record of lighthouses)
This book will fill you with the ambiance and feel of what lighthouses are all about.
***** (5 stars out of 5: recommended.
------------------
Bob Steinbrunn
Nautical Research Guild