Amazon.com Review
This slim, enjoyable book is similar to the best kind of evening news broadcast: short on depth, yet long on charm, and featuring enough compelling anecdotes and interesting facts to inspire further investigation. In
Around America, legendary anchorman Walter Cronkite presents a historical tour of much of America's nearly 5,000 miles of coastline. From the helm of his sailboat
Wyntje, he offers tales of shipwrecks, naval battles, and navigational near-misses, as well as such memorable quips as "If you are a sailor, it is not a good thing to have a rock named after you." He's obviously much more familiar with the northeastern coast than the other places he describes, but even his enthusiastic, if light, take on the western and gulf coasts makes for pleasant armchair navigating. He also paints a rich montage of the 1,245-mile Intracoastal Waterway stretching from Norfolk, Virginia, to Key West, Florida, in which he describes both the culture of the waterfront communities he passes and the deep historical significance of the region.
In this engaging book, Cronkite proves that the water need not be deep to be teaming with life, and he offers an amusing anecdote, colorful character, or historical tidbit on nearly every page. At its core, Around America is a labor of love by a mariner in his twilight still happily searching for hidden American harbors. --Shawn Carkonen
From Publishers Weekly
In this cordial and breezy rumination on the people and places along America's seashores, Cronkite shows his reverence for the country's coastal beauty and for the craft of sailing, his chosen means of travel. Starting in the Northeast, working south, then circling around to the West Coast, the book reads like a lively but laid-back cruise, guided by a granddad singling out points of interest along the way. In Maine, for instance, "Christmas Cove was given its lovely name by the peripatetic Captain John Smith, who guess what? spent Christmas Day there in 1614." Cronkite's paternal tone is pronounced, not necessarily a bad thing, but not for all readers: to him, fireworks over the casinos of Atlantic City signify "some sinful accomplishment in those dens of iniquity," and the sight of the U.S.S. Constitution being tugged out into Boston Harbor brings "tears of appreciation to an old salt's eyes." One can't help hearing Cronkite's familiar broadcast voice, as his writing is so similar soothing, dignified, informing and charming. Cronkite appreciates the ports' lore as much as he does the places themselves, and characters are far more likely to come from the annals of history than from the present-day towns along the way. His anecdotes are short, varied and engaging, and his descriptions have a quiet power even when they border on the saccharine: "Abed, under a blanket or two, we're sent to sleep by a gentle wind just strong enough to ripple the water against our hull and speed a whisper through the trees." It's hard not to be won over by Cronkite's earnestness; given the book's lighthearted and leisurely character, it's the perfect companion for a lazy day at the beach. 40 b&w illus. not seen by PW. (Aug.) Forecast: Cronkite's nostalgic erudition will have an similar appeal similar to Jimmy Carter's recent An Hour Before Dawn. Some Northeastern book signings are in the works, including in New York.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
