American Sea Writing: A Literary Anthology (Library of America) (Hardcover)

~ Peter Neill (Editor), (Foreword) "FOR four and twenty hours the storm, in a restless tumult, had blown so exceedingly, as we could not apprehend in our imaginations any possibility..." (more)
Key Phrases: git the ile, harbor oysters, charter men, New York, United States, Hua Manu (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The publisher reached way back into the archives of American literature for this collection, beginning with William Strachey's 1609 account of being blown off course on the way to the Jamestown, VA, settlement and shipwrecked in Bermuda. This amalgam of fiction and nonfiction includes short stories and excerpts from novels, dramas, diaries, and journals from such authors as Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Herman Melville, Stephen Crane, Jack London, Eugene O'Neill, Ernest Hemingway, Rachel Carson, and Peter Matthiessen, among others. In a word: outstanding.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The Library of America's mission is to devise ways of preserving the most significant U.S. writing, which undoubtedly has led to this worthy project. This theme-driven anthology features American literature of the sea from it beginnings, starting with William Strachey's A True Reportory of the Wrack and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight, concluding with a selection from John McPhee's Looking for a Ship , and in-between teaching the reader a thing or two with such pieces as Olaudah Equiano's narrative about life on a slave ship, Longfellow's The Wreck of the Hesperus , Peter Matthiessen's Under Montauk Light, and Rachel Carson's The Marginal World . It's an imaginatively edited anthology that gives readers a strong sense of American sea writing.Bonnie Smothers
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Library of America; First edition. edition (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883011833
• ISBN-13: 978-1883011833
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #723,197 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning!, March 8, 2002

By	Gregory R. Glau (Flagstaff, AZ United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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A terrific collection of stories and tales and poems about the sea, from all the usual suspects plus some you might not have thought of--Thoreau, for example, on the wreak of an immigrant ship, or Langston Hughes on his trip on an old cargo ship to Africa--and some you won't have read but really should--like Fanny Kemble's diary notes on her trip "over" to the new world, and what the weather was like, how the food was, who she met and what they spoke of . . . this is a magnificant collection of American authors.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brinyography, October 12, 2008

By	Todd Stockslager (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews

Interesting collection of sea/beach/sailing literature--fiction, poetry, history, biography, science. Grab bag arranged in chronological order is fast reading that can inspire, frighten, enlighten, amuse, and encourage.