William Warner exhibits his skill as a naturalist and as a writer in this Pulitzer Prize-winning study of the pugnacious Atlantic blue crab and of its Chesapeake Bay territory. Penguin Nature Library.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
45 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful book on an unlikely subject,
By Robert S. Newman "Bob Newman" (Marblehead, Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay (Paperback)
As a kid in Marblehead, Mass. I liked to catch crabs off the rocks. When I grew up a bit, I learned to eat them too---a very succulent food that I still love. But, I must confess that I never thought of reading books about them until one day I ran across William Warner's BEAUTIFUL SWIMMERS in a college bookshop. This wonderful work contains all you ever wanted to know about the life cycle of one particular kind of crab that lives in Chesapeake Bay (the kind you probably smashed with mallets if you ever went to that area). Surprisingly, for most of its life, the Atlantic blue crab has nothing to do with beer. Taking it for a focus, Warner draws connections with the sea, the rivers, the crab-friendly environment that produced such a wealth of the creatures, and then the people who live from that wealth, the islanders who lived isolated for centuries, but are now firmly within the web of modern life. Warner tells of the marketing of crabs, the catching of other Chesapeake products like oysters, and even of festivals like a Miss Crustacean contest ! You can learn about esoterica like crab pots, the Waterman's Union, the religious heritage of crabbers, and lots more. My edition came with a number of excellent pencil drawings of crabs, crabbers, and maritime scenes from the area. I was disappointed by only one thing----reaching the end of this great book.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A lyrical work of art,
By "moonfishlane" (Cockeysville, MD USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay (Paperback)
This book is a technical wonder of writing. The lyrical beauty of the prose gives it the flow and cadence of poetry but with the straightforward phrasing of journalism. It should be required reading for college literature majors everywhere. I was first exposed to Beautiful Swimmers when it showed up on my son's 9th grade English summer reading list. What a fortunate assignment for mom. I am in awe of Mr. Warner's skill in crafting spare yet well-thought phrasing that carefully blends the unique local language with technical terminology. You read this book and forget that it is non-fiction, nature writing. It draws you in like a compelling fictional account. Therein lies the success of the book. Beautiful Swimmers covers the crabbing industry and the impact of this lovely crustacean on the Bay and its economy - a worthy journalistic endeavor. But for me, the real beauty is in the joy of just reading this charming work.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An enduring classic: man, commerce, sea, and crab intertwine,
By A Customer
This review is from: Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay (Paperback)
I left my last copy of this book on an airline, where I was re-reading it for probably the tenth time, and am once more at this site to purchase a bunch more copies, for myself and as gifts to friends. This is a magnificent naturalist book, for anyone who has ever eaten a blue crab, caught one (they are smart and dumb at the same time, getting immersed in their eating the bait that they don't see your net, but brilliant escape artists the moment they focus on their peril), spent time anywhere along the Chesapeake, wondered about the lives of fishermen, or the cycles of the sea.
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First Sentence:
It is so known through the length and breadth of its watershed. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
mano boats, shedding floats, crab scraper, chicken neckers, pot mesh, crab pounds, eel sections, crab grounds, dredging fleet, soft crabs, pound operators, daily catch limits, county dock, many watermen, other watermen, hard crabs, crab shanties, crab industry, crab catch, oyster toadfish, swimming legs, white bait, picking plants, seed oysters, more crabs Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Smith Island, Morris Goodwin, Captain Lester, Deal Island, New York, New England, Eastern Bay, Chesapeake Bay, Tangier Sound, North Carolina, King Street, Little Doll, Tangier Island, Cape Charles, Grant Corbin, New Jersey, Kent Island, Rhodes Point, Captain John Smith, United States, Captain Rudy, Hampton Roads, Island Seafood, Miss Crustacean, National Hard Crab Derby New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
It is so known through the length and breadth of its watershed. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
mano boats, shedding floats, crab scraper, chicken neckers, pot mesh, crab pounds, eel sections, crab grounds, dredging fleet, soft crabs, pound operators, daily catch limits, county dock, many watermen, other watermen, hard crabs, crab shanties, crab industry, crab catch, oyster toadfish, swimming legs, white bait, picking plants, seed oysters, more crabs Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Smith Island, Morris Goodwin, Captain Lester, Deal Island, New York, New England, Eastern Bay, Chesapeake Bay, Tangier Sound, North Carolina, King Street, Little Doll, Tangier Island, Cape Charles, Grant Corbin, New Jersey, Kent Island, Rhodes Point, Captain John Smith, United States, Captain Rudy, Hampton Roads, Island Seafood, Miss Crustacean, National Hard Crab Derby New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 4
books:
29
books
cite this book:
See all 29 books citing this book
- Ocean City by Smith on page 267
- Beautiful Swimmers : Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay by William W. Warner in Front Matter
- Cape Cod (Penguin Nature Library) by Henry David Thoreau on page 178
- North Carolina Disasters & Catastrophes! (Carole Marsh North Carolina Books) by Carole Marsh on page 138
- Landfall along the Chesapeake: In the Wake of Captain John Smith by Susan Schmidt in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Writing for Children (Plume) by Jane Thayer on page 114
- The Invisible Child: On Reading and Writing Books for Children by Katherine Paterson on page 212
- Writing Creative Nonfiction: Fiction Techniques for Crafting Great Nonfiction by Theodore A. Rees Cheney in Back Matter
- Nature Writing (Genres in Context) by Don Scheese in Back Matter
See all 29 books citing this book
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