The McLanes have delved into a wealth of primary sources, using old tax assessments, court records, and early maps, to spin their tales of the early settlers of Maine's islands and their descendants. Here is history as it too seldom is in textbooks: colorful, human, downright irresistible. Each volume is replete with rare vintage photos and dozens of maps and will delight all who love islands, or simply a good read.

“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.

A richly illustrated catalogue of visual art recording the changing ecology of Monhegan Island, a renowned artist destination off the coast of Maine. With its rugged shoreline, magnificent Cathedral Woods, and rustic cedar-shingled homes, Monhegan Island is quintessential Maine. This historic fishing village situated 10 miles off the coast has long been a haven for artists drawn to the splendor of its ocean vistas and picturesque wildlands and for ecologists fascinated by its complex natural history. Merging art, science, and history, this book explores the broad arc of ecological events on the island—the formation and abandonment of pastureland, forest recovery, and the critical importance of land conservation—through their representation in visual art. Indeed, for well over a century, painters, photographers, printmakers, and cartographers alike have observed and depicted this dynamic landscape. Inspired by a Rockwell Kent painting of white spruce saplings set against blue sea and golden sky, biologist Barry Logan recognized that the island’s ecology could be traced through its artistic depictions across the ages. This collaboration between Logan and Monhegan historian Jennifer Pye and art historian Frank Goodyear yields a new and unprecedented survey of the art of the island through the lens of ecology. This story of Monhegan parallels that of other land conservation efforts throughout the country, yet it is one uniquely well told by island artists, ecologists, historians, and community members.

Dahlov Ipcar is best known for her vibrant collage-style paintings of jungle and farm animals. This clearly evident love of animals is due in part to the summers she spent with her family in Maine. In 1923 the Zorach family (her parents were the famous artists William and Marguerite Zorach) bought a farm at Robinhood Cove in Georgetown, Maine. It was during a Maine summer that Dahlov met her future husband Adolph Ipcar. They married in September 1936 and after living in New York City for a short time, they moved permanently to Maine. where she still lives today.

Instant New York Times Bestseller Longlisted for Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence 2020 New England Society Book Award Winner for Fiction “The Guest Book is monumental in a way that few novels dare attempt.” —The Washington Post The thought-provoking new novel by New York Times bestselling author Sarah Blake An exquisitely written, poignant family saga that illuminates the great divide, the gulf that separates the rich and poor, black and white, Protestant and Jew. Spanning three generations, The Guest Book deftly examines the life and legacy of one unforgettable family as they navigate the evolving social and political landscape from Crockett’s Island, their family retreat off the coast of Maine. Blake masterfully lays bare the memories and mistakes each generation makes while coming to terms with what it means to inherit the past.

On March 16, 1621, Samoset, a sagamore of the Wawenock, cemented his place in history. He was the first Indigenous person to make contact with the colonists at Plymouth Plantation, startling them when he emerged from the forest and welcomed them in English. The extraordinary thing about Samoset’s story is that he was not from Plymouth. He was not even Wampanoag, or Patuxet, who lived in the area. Samoset’s home was more than 200 miles away on the coast of present-day Maine. Why was he there? And why was he chosen to make contact with the English settlers? In addition to that first meeting in Plymouth, Samoset’s life coincided with several important events during the period of early contact with Europeans, and his home village of Pemaquid lay at the center of Indigenous-European interactions at the beginning of the 17th century. As a result he and his people, the Wawenock, were active participants in this history. But it came at great cost, and the way of living that had sustained them for centuries changed dramatically over the course of his lifetime as they endured war, epidemics, and a clash of cultures. This is their story.

In this meditation on religion and science, Lightman explores the tension between our yearning for permanence and certainty, and the modern scientific discoveries that demonstrate the impermanent and uncertain nature of the world. As a physicist, he has always held a scientific view of the world. But one summer evening, while looking at the stars from a small boat at sea he was overcome by the sensation that he was merging with a grand and eternal unity, a hint of something absolute and immaterial. This is his exploration of these seemingly contradictory impulses, and the journey along the different paths of religion and science that become part of his quest. -- adapted from publisher info.