The first major study of slavery in the maritime South, The Waterman's Song chronicles the world of slave and free black fishermen, pilots, rivermen, sailors, ferrymen, and other laborers who, from the colonial era through Reconstruction, plied the vast inland waters of North Carolina from the Outer Banks to the upper reaches of tidewater rivers. Demonstrating the vitality and significance of this local African American maritime culture, David Cecelski also reveals its connections to the Afro-Caribbean, the relatively egalitarian work culture of seafaring men who visited nearby ports, and the revolutionary political tides that coursed throughout the black Atlantic. Black maritime laborers played an essential role in local abolitionist activity, slave insurrections, and other antislavery activism. They also boatlifted thousands of slaves to freedom during the Civil War. But most important, Cecelski says, they carried an insurgent, democratic vision born in the maritime districts of the slave South into the political maelstrom of the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Young Annie begins with her great grandmother and tells about her family's life as fishermen on Chesapeake Bay.

The feel-good underdog story of the first American swimmer to win Olympic gold, set against the turbulent rebirth of the modern Games, that “bring[s] to life an inspiring figure and illuminate[s] an overlooked chapter in America’s sports history” (The Wall Street Journal) “Once or twice in a decade, one of these stories . . . like Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken [or] Daniel Brown’s The Boys in the Boat . . . captures the imagination of the public. . . . Add The Watermen by Michael Loynd to this illustrious list.”—Swimming World Winner of the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s Paragon Award and the Buck Dawson Authors Award In the early twentieth century, few Americans knew how to swim, and swimming as a competitive sport was almost unheard of. That is, until Charles Daniels took to the water. On the surface, young Charles had it all: high-society parents, a place at an exclusive New York City prep school, summer vacations in the Adirondacks. But the scrawny teenager suffered from extreme anxiety thanks to a sadistic father who mired the family in bankruptcy and scandal before abandoning Charles and his mother altogether. Charles’s only source of joy was swimming. But with no one to teach him, he struggled with technique—until he caught the eye of two immigrant coaches hell-bent on building a U.S. swim program that could rival the British Empire’s seventy-year domination of the sport. Interwoven with the story of Charles’s efforts to overcome his family’s disgrace is the compelling history of the struggle to establish the modern Olympics in an era when competitive sports were still in their infancy. When the powerful British Empire finally legitimized the Games by hosting the fourth Olympiad in 1908, Charles’s hard-fought rise climaxed in a gold-medal race where British judges prepared a trap to ensure the American upstart’s defeat. Set in the early days of a rapidly changing twentieth century, The Watermen—a term used at the time to describe men skilled in water sports—tells an engrossing story of grit, of the growth of a major new sport in which Americans would prevail, and of a young man’s determination to excel.

Waterman is the first comprehensive biography of Duke Kahanamoku (1890–1968): swimmer, surfer, Olympic gold medalist, Hawaiian icon, waterman. Long before Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz made their splashes in the pool, Kahanamoku emerged from the backwaters of Waikiki to become America’s first superstar Olympic swimmer. The original “human fish” set dozens of world records and topped the world rankings for more than a decade; his rivalry with Johnny Weissmuller transformed competitive swimming from an insignificant sideshow into a headliner event. Kahanamoku used his Olympic renown to introduce the sport of “surf-riding,” an activity unknown beyond the Hawaiian Islands, to the world. Standing proudly on his traditional wooden longboard, he spread surfing from Australia to the Hollywood crowd in California to New Jersey. No American athlete has influenced two sports as profoundly as Kahanamoku did, and yet he remains an enigmatic and underappreciated figure: a dark-skinned Pacific Islander who encountered and overcame racism and ignorance long before the likes of Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, and Jackie Robinson. Kahanamoku’s connection to his homeland was equally important. He was born when Hawaii was an independent kingdom; he served as the sheriff of Honolulu during Pearl Harbor and World War II and as a globetrotting “Ambassador of Aloha” afterward; he died not long after Hawaii attained statehood. As one sportswriter put it, Duke was “Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey combined down here.” In Waterman, award-winning journalist David Davis examines the remarkable life of Duke Kahanamoku, in and out of the water. Purchase the audio edition.

Boats and life This is an unforgettable collection of ninety short tales about the boating Matthew Goldman has done in his life—in sailboats, canoes, rowboats, and other floating craft. All these memoirs deal with the water—from the puddle to the sea. They wander, as reflective as a sandy-bottomed brook. They linger, as wistful as an idle boat in summer. They revel, as jubilant as broaching porpoises. Who will want to read about Constant Waterman? Anyone who’s ever paused to watch a water strider; anyone who’s ever stood and listened to the sea; anyone who leans when they see a sloop heel; anyone who hopes to find a message in a bottle. Here is that message. Unfold it carefully, read it aloud. Read about boats; read about passages; read about islands; read about the rain. Learn about a murder in the woods by the river; learn about restoring a wooden boat. Hear about sailors, boat builders, ferrymen; hear about canoeing amid the marshes. The best part about it? You don’t have to spend your time sanding and varnishing. You don’t need to don any foul weather gear. You don’t need to know a bowline from a boom vang, or know how to pole a canoe. Here is the world of Constant Waterman: wry, introspective, intimate, impassioned. Turn another page. You may find a lighthouse, you may find a swan. You’ll hear the hoarse cadence of the sea grinding shingle, the wrinkling song of a stream through the forest, the complaint of the wind in your standing rigging. Listen. *Includes 50 beautiful pen-and-ink drawings by the author. *

Showcasing the evocative artwork created by John Moll for this special edition, James A. Michener’s The Watermen is a unique tribute to the adventurous seafarers of the Chesapeake Bay. Excerpted from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author’s classic Chesapeake, this enthralling novel has a unity and a spirit all its own, telling the story of the bay and its wildlife, but especially of the watermen, from their favorite pastimes to their rivalries in hunting, oystering, racing, and fighting. Gorgeously illustrated, brilliantly conceived, The Watermen is a narrative and visual feast from one of America’s favorite storytellers. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from James A. Michener's Hawaii. Praise for Chesapeake “Another of James Michener’s great mines of narrative, character and lore.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] marvelous panorama of history seen in the lives of symbolic people of the ages . . . an emotionally and intellectually appealing book.”—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Michener’s most ambitious work of fiction in theme and scope.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer “Magnificently written . . . one of those rare novels that is enthusiastically passed from friend to friend.”—Associated Press

The goal of any waterman or woman is to surf, paddle or row as often as they can, as well as they can, for the rest of their life. The trouble is that few understand how to get the most from their body and when they can't, what to do about it outside of the usual layoffs, surgeries and cortisone injections. As one veteran paddler recently put it: "Ibuprofen is my second religion." There is a better way. Using insights gleaned from his experiences on the whitewater canoe and rafting national teams and improving the performance and wellbeing of the world's top athletes, Dr. Kelly Starrett has created nothing short of a movement manifesto for the water athlete. Equally applicable to the pro waterman, novice and everyone in between, Waterman 2.0 gives paddlers, surfers and rowers of all ages and abilities a one-stop guide to understanding: Basic movement baselines for optimal and sustainable performance on and off the water How to identify and fix weakest links, and become faster, stronger and more resilient Mobility techniques to help prevent, assess and address soft tissue, joint and sliding surface issues Common errors that lead to pain and performance limitations Corrective strategies that enhance movement patterns and unlock more speed and endurance Lifestyle adaptations that enable better preparation, training and racing Tactics for more effective recovery, hydration and sleep Waterman 2.0 also features unique insights and tips from more than 30 of the world's top watermen and women, including Laird Hamilton, Kai Lenny, Emily Jackson-Troutman and Paige Alms. This book is the start of a revolution in water sports performance. Are you ready to become Waterman 2.0?

The classic environmental call to action 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the passing of the Wilderness Act—the landmark piece of legislation to set aside and protect pristine parts of the American landscape. This anniversary edition of Wilderness Ethics should help put the many issues surrounding wilderness in focus.