Chesapeake Requiem: A Year Exploring the Lives of the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island

Bergsy: I have been visiting Tangier Island, by my own boat, once in a while since the late 1970s. Not so often, because I've been much more attracted to its neighbor to the north, Smith Island. I've never gotten to know anyone on Tangier.

The book shows many facets of the lives of the islanders, including the religious and the political aspects. Very interesting to find an island with only a few hundred residents, all evangelical Methodists, with two Methodist churches about a block from each other. One conservative fundamentalist, and the other more conservative fundamentalist! Incredible. Politically they are virtually all Trump fans, no surprise, but what's more interesting is that while they keep wanting "the government" to save their island, they do essentially nothing to make it happen. An important meeting is held, they know about it and think "someone should go" but nobody does. It's the common sad case of those with hope for a better future leave the doomed island, while those who stay just accept what's happening. Btw it seems most of them do not think climate change is happening or that the level of the Bay around them is rising.

United States on Jul 27, 2019

Emma: Good quality product purchased for my dad

United Kingdom on Jan 09, 2019

Kem White: "Chesapeake Requiem" is an outstanding book. Swift gives us a deep map of a small, slowly vanishing, island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay and the people on it. His prose is evocative. He paints a fascinating picture of the lives of watermen and the place they inhabit. We learn the intricacies and vernacular of crabbing and oystering. We experience the capricious nature of Bay weather and tides. We sail out on boats in the early morning. We experience the loss of a waterman beloved by the islanders. This book is absolutely a must read for anyone (like me) who lives near the Chesapeake.

Curiously, and despite the careful, intimate portraits Swift paints of the Tangiermen, I had a hard time liking many of them. I have no doubt they're hardworking and courageous. Anyone who successfully scrapes a life from the Bay can't be otherwise. But their blinding religiosity and their contempt for anyone who might challenge their unfettered access to what is, in fact, a resource for all Americans, grates to the point that I found sympathy for their situation wanting.

Swift makes clear that Tangier Island is vanishing. In just the 18 months he lived there, Uppards, a treeless,...

United States on Nov 18, 2018

Hermosasue: I purchased both the Kindle edition(has photos) and audible(for easy listening). The book is an interesting yet disturbing account of the lives of the islanders and you actually start to feel sorry for their plight. I did enjoy it for the most part, yet the author has any annoying habit of occasionally interjecting his own political views/opinions on both the latest Political election and climate change which seems to have no place in this account. My other quirk is with the audible narrator who obviously not of a seafaring/yachting background kept pronouncing the word "gunwale" as gun-whale instead of the proper "gunnel" or per the dictionary \ ˈgə-nᵊl \. Very irritating and inaccurate and he should have done his research. Regardless I would recommend it as a fairly good read and account but be aware of the annoying issue.

United States on Sep 05, 2018

James Palmer: I think Earl Swift did a great job with this. As a "come here," with the disadvantages that brings, he managed to win over the Tangier residents so they would confide in him and include him in their daily life. I think not everyone could do that so well. As a result, he painted a vivid picture of the people and their way of life.

As a person who has spent some time boating on the bay, and experienced the weather challenges from time to time, I admire the grit and knowledge of these hard-working island people. I know I would be hard pressed to do the job they do in helping me have the crabs and oysters I enjoy so much. That's what surprises me about their passive acceptance of the changes they all see on the island, and look for others to do something about it. Swift describes very well the prevailing attitude that "something ought to be done," but then no one does it. And complaining that others aren't doing enough about their situation. That seems completely contrary to the first sentence of this paragraph.

My family tree shows generations of people that moved from New England and Virginia, through the Midwest, and on to the West Coast as they sought to improve...

United States on Sep 02, 2018