Bøger udgivet af Down East Books

Joshua Chamberlain has become a pop culture icon and his regiment is now the most famous small military unit in American history. A major focus of The Killer Angels, the largest selling Civil War novel of all time, save Uncle Tom's Cabin, and two major motion pictures, "Gettysburg" and "Gods and Generals," the story of the 20th Maine has become legendary, particularly their effort to defend the Union Army's position on Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg. According to filmmaker Ken Burns, it was the story of Chamberlain as told in the novel The Killer Angels that inspired him to create his masterpiece, nine-part documentary film, "The Civil War." In 1890s, at the encouragement of friends, Chamberlain wrote an autobiography covering his life from childhood to just before he joined the army in 1862. He stopped there, because by then he had written so many speeches and essays about his life in the army that there was no point in telling that part of his life story again. Assembled here, and annotated, are that original 1890s manuscript along with essays he wrote about the three most significant battles of his military experience--Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Petersburg--as well as the story of the surrender ceremony for the Confederate Army at Appomattox which he commanded.

Residing on Maine's Islesboro Island, Sandra Oliver is a revered food historian with a vast knowledge of New England food history, subsistence living, and Yankee cooking. For the past five years, she has published her weekly recipes column, "Tastebuds," in the Bangor Daily News. The column has featured hundreds of recipes--from classic tried-and-true dishes to innovative uses for traditional ingredients. Collecting more than 200 recipes from her column and from folks who have shared them with from all over the state, and emphasizing fresh, local ingredients, as well as the common ingredients found in most kitchens, this volume represents a new standard in home cooking. Also included are chapters with recipes and insights on canning, preserving, brining, and pickling. In this comprehensive tome, Oliver brings the traditions and recipes of generations of Maine home cooks to life. Peppered with funny and useful advice from her island kitchen and garden, this book is chock-full of wisdom and stories. Whether you need a quick weekday meal or are indulging in a New England feast, these recipes are a delicious way to eat well and experience the culinary heritage of Maine.

The river and woods that define the small community of Allagash, Maine, also define the long life of Louis Pelletier. This is the story, told with his daughter, acclaimed novelist Cathie Pelletier, of a hard-working individualist who made his livelihood in the Maine woods. In brief vignettes, Pelletier recalls growing up and working in a simpler time--before there were satellite dishes, computers, or snowmobiles--when the sun was their timepiece, the forest their work, and storytelling was their spiritual sustenance.

Following his critically acclaimed first collection of essays, Cold Spell, retired educator Todd Nelson follows it up with a new collection of short essays rooted in his Maine experiences.

E. B. White (1899-1985) is best known for his children's books, Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan. Columnist for The New Yorker for over half a century and co-author of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, White hit his stride as an American literary icon when he began publishing his "One Man's Meat" columns from his saltwater farm on the coast of Maine. In E. B. White on Dogs, his granddaughter and manager of his literary estate, Martha White, has compiled the best and funniest of his essays, poems, letters, and sketches depicting over a dozen of White's various canine companions. Featured here are favorite essays such as "Two Letters, Both Open," where White takes on the Internal Revenue Service, and also "Bedfellows," with its "fraudulent reports" from White's ignoble old dachshund, Fred. ("I just saw an eagle go by. It was carrying a baby.") From The New Yorker's "Talk of the Town" are some little-known "Notes and Comment" pieces covering dog shows, sled dog races, and the trials and tribulations of city canines, chief among them a Scottie called Daisy who was kicked out of Schrafft's, arrested, and later run down by a Yellow Cab, prompting The New Yorker to run her "Obituary." Some previously unpublished photographs from the E. B. White estate show over a dozen of the family dogs, from the first collie, to various labs, Scotties, dachshunds, terriers, half-breeds, and mutts, all well-loved. This is a book for readers and writers who recognize a good sentence and a masterful turn of a phrase; for E. B. White fans looking for more from their favorite author; and for dog lovers who may not have discovered the wit, style, and compassion of this most distinguished of American essayists.

Whether he's escaping the personal vendetta of a bull named Killer (I was a matador without a cape), entangled with a rabid cow, chasing a stallion (well, not quite, anymore...) through downtown Bangor, performing heart surgery in an arena, or having a close encounter?while airborne?with a B-52 bomber, this vet regards it all as part of a (long) working day.

Whether he was trying to geld a spooked stallion in a blizzard or found himself in the middle of an all-out fracas involving a monkey's abscessed tooth and a shotgun, he took it in stride, with great affection for both his four-legged patients and his two-legged clients.

The headlines have been full of controversy over casinos, racinos, land claims settlements, and sovereign rights for Native Americans in Maine-and it's likely that we'll be talking about these complex issues for some time yet. A capable historian with an enjoyable narrative style, Neil Rolde puts these controversies in context by telling the larger story of Maine Indians since earliest times. There are many generous voices in this book, sharing their stories and hopes and fears. It's a privilege to listen to them and broaden our understanding of the issues faced by Native Americans in Maine.

The Stones of Riverton is a collection of linked fictional stories that are based on cemetery markers in a small Maine town. Together, they tell a history of unexplained deaths and deeply held secrets in a community that is divided both culturally and economically.

Young newlyweds Peter and Dorothy Muilenburg found their way from New Hampshire to the Virgin Islands. He had been a civil rights Freedom Fighter, jailed in Mississippi while protesting racial injustice. In St. John, she founded the Pine Peace School. They both taught. On an East End beach, he built a sailboat strong enough to take them anywhere, and they put to sea with their two young sons. But their crew was not yet complete. Santos, a schipperke, came to them as a tiny puppy and sailed with them all his life-75,000 deep-sea miles-four times across the Atlantic, crisscrossing the Caribbean, coasting the U.S. eastern seaboard, exploring the Med, ranging up African rivers. A lightning rod for trouble, he survived a kidnapping, hurricanes, raging surf, being lost overboard at sea, and was twice given up for dead. And he watched over his family with fierce and abiding devotion. If you want to see the world-really see it-go by sailboat. And if you want to absorb the world through every pore, take a venturesome dog as your guide. The bright spirit named Santos became a legend to millions of readers through the pages of SAIL and Reader's Digest magazines. Now Peter Muilenburg-a wise and observant chronicler with a true wanderer's desire to engage the world on authentic terms-has written this captivating story of familial love and adventure, unforgettable people and places, and an amazing schipperke who has sailed right into the sea dog hall of fame.

Growing up in rural poverty, their advantages were few, but together they left a record of achievement that will probably never be equaled again by a single generation of any American family.

In 1884 Republican James G. Blaine came within 1,047 votes of becoming the President of the United States. This was the margin by which he lost New York State--and thus the election--to Grover Cleveland in what has been called the dirtiest campaign in American history. Yet his career--arguably the most sensational of any American politician of the so-called Gilded Age--did not end there. He was twice U.S. secretary of state, credited with having started our country on the path to acting like a world power, a powerful speaker of the house in Congress, and a United States senator from his adopted State of Maine. He was also, in the eyes of his opponents, "The Continental Liar From the State of Maine" or "Slippery Jim"--a sort of amiable "Tricky Dick Nixon," as he's been later called. He was hated by certain members of his own party, yet loved by millions of others, including some of his enemies in the Democratic Party. The press called him The Magnetic Man, due to his charisma. This is the fascinating biography of a man who dominated the American political stage, starting just before the Civil War and continuing until the twentieth century.

In the last few miles above the Cape Cod Canal, visitors to the Cape pass through the towns of Middleboro, Carver, and Wareham. To most, these places will never be more than a roadside sign, but there is life here--of a very particular sort. Beyond the highway are 11,000 acres of bog, and each fall, after the tourists have gone home, men and machines appear to harvest a third of the nation's cranberries, turkey's tablemate.This book looks at the history of this tart and diminutive fruit, the ways it is cultivated, cared for, and consumed. It looks into the lives and livelihoods of those who harvest it--some families have been in the business for five generations. It provides a rich and surprising story of this under-appreciated berry.

Although the representatives from the Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribe don't have voting power on the house floor, they serve on committees and may chair committees. Donna's first session as representative of the Penobscot Nation was a difficult one a personal struggle to have a voice, but also because of the issues: changing offensive names, teaching Native American history in Maine schools, casinos and racinos, and the interpretation of sovereign rights for tribes. Some of the struggles and issues remain as she continues to serve, and the perspective she offers as a Native American and as a legislator is both valuable and fascinating.

A chronicle of changes through the seasons both above and within the sea, A COASTAL COMPANION follows the arrival and departure of migrating shorebirds in spring and fall, schools of fish as they move in and out of our region, and the natural cycles of our bays, rivers, marshes, and coastal forests. Part field guide, part almanac, the book also highlights writers, artists, and scientists who have chosen the Gulf of Maine as their subject matter. Poems by twelve contemporary poets open each chapter, and illustrations by two Maine artists, Kimberleigh Martul-March and Margaret Campbell, are featured throughout the text. This is a book to keep close at hand, to be read not all at once, but through the seasons, one day at a time, and enjoyed year after year.

How to accommodate contemporary life in a historic house. This book does not repeat basic information that is readily available in many standard DIY books about carpentry, wiring, and plumbing. Rather, it shows how to adapt those DIY skills to the specialized needs of a historic house.

In print for fifty-five years, One Man's Meat continues to delight readers with E.B. White's witty, succinct observations on daily life at a Maine saltwater farm.

Robert Kimber has led a largely rural life as a farmer, writer, and woodsman. The essays gathered in this wide-ranging collection reflect a lifetime of adventures and misadventures. Kimber writes of canoeing and fishing, stubborn sheep and old tractors, and the joys of roaming the woods with his dog. Seasoned with a dash of wit and self-irony, this paean to the upcountry life is as fresh and bracing as it is affectionate.

Living along Maine's rugged coast requires a combination of industriousness, flexibility, and self-sufficiency, all coupled with a profound sense of community. Like barnacles on a tidal ledge, these close-knit communities cling to the edge of the sea. They have salt in their veins, and the Maine coast is their ecosystem. In this book about people, Charlie Wing talks with some of the hardy folk who call this place home. Here are stories of lobstermen, boatbuilders, artists, writers, and teachers who opened up to Charlie and share their feelings on world events, government, the weather, and people from away.

WHEN CHARLIE BAKER'S PARENTS ANNOUNCE that they're taking him and his sister-the drama queen Clarissa-to a cabin in Maine for two weeks, Charlie thinks they're kidding. Then their mom adds something else. "There's no electricity," she tells them. "And you leave your cell phones at home." They weren't kidding.When the Bakers arrive at Lake Fortune, they are welcomed by a rickety cabin with an outhouse, a thunderstorm, and a creature in the attic that masquerades as a ghost. "Is this a scientific experiment?" asks Clarissa. "Is the government paying us?"But the true adventure begins when they discover a clue left in a mason jar on a tiny island in the lake. That clue-written by The Mystery Traveler-leads them to a second clue. Soon, they are on the path of an exciting treasure hunt, one that brings Charlie and the bossy Clarissa together for the first time. Not only do they bond as brother and big sister, they have the summer of their lives.

Architect Chris Glass and architectural photographer Brian Vanden Brink make a compelling and visually fascinating argument that the quintessential Maine house is one that fits its surroundings, rather than competing with them. Included are renovated and new houses, as well as other buildings redesigned to be homes.

When the Island had Fish is the story of a tiny island, Vinalhaven Maine, that offers a close look at the significant history of Maine fishing particularly, but also provides a meditation on America's past and future. Vinalhaven's fishing history is in every way America's history. It's a story of habitations by native peoples and European-American settlers, their use of natural resources, their communities and kin, and their efforts to find ways to live in a harsh environment. Anyone interested in creating a viable collective future will learn from reading about the Penobscot Bay fisheries and fishermen, and about Vinalhaven's citizens' expansive knowledge of craft, husbandry, self-governance and community independence, and interdependence.