From Book News, Inc.
Profiles 66 Marylanders whose work or way of life is vanishing, documenting in text and photographs (black-and-white) the rich and varied heritage that is being bulldozed by mass culture, e.g., operating a toll bridge, making hats, harvesting oysters, and teaching in a one-room school are among them. No index or bibliography. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Review
"Sherwood's prose is that of a master craftsman in his field -- clear and plain, admirably brief yet touched with insight. Remsberg's photographs are straightforward, black-and-white, and blessedly free of artsy effects. Their book is a fine gift for this area, more than just a nice coffee-table decoration."--John Goodspeed, Baltimore City Paper
Review
"In this grand little book, most fittingly illustrated by photographer Edwin Remsberg's portraits, readers will learn and chuckle and keep turning pages for more and more of these slightly oddball Marylanders. Sherwood is an old-school reporter, weaned on digging up human-interest stories rather than political smears. It's a delight to find his brand of journalism -- informative, surprising, charming, and fun -- alive and well in Maryland's Vanishing Lives."
Book Description
For more than two years, John Sherwood roamed Maryland's small towns and city neighborhoods, traveled Appalachian back roads, and sailed the Chesapeake looking for people whose work or way of life recalled the state's rich and varied tradition. Maryland's Vanishing Lives is his vivid account of the people he met on those journeys. Working in a country store or an old-time movie house, on a small tobacco farm or a weathered skipjack, Sherwood's subjects interest us as people, as stubborn survivors who have watched -- sometimes defiantly, sometimes wistfully -- as the world moved on.These Marylanders' stories poignantly show what happens to family businesses and ordinary folk in the face of new technology, suburban sprawl, franchise outlets, and changing tastes. But Maryland's Vanishing Lives is also an engaging celebration of pride and craft, and the ability to survive. In this collection of sixty-six short profiles, illustrated with memorable photographs by Edwin Remsberg, Sherwood preserves for posterity the lives of Marylanders who hang on to values and skills that are quickly disappearing.
About the Author
John Sherwood is managing editor of Rags, a sailing magazine published in Annapolis, Maryland. He has been a reporter for the Washington Star, and Baltimore Sun, and the Miami Herald. Edwin H. Remsberg is a freelance photographer whose work appears regularly inn regional and national publications.
Maryland's Vanishing Lives FROM THE PUBLISHER
On Weems Creek in Annapolis, a grandmother operates one of Maryland's last swing bridges from her office tucked under the span. In his Baltimore workshop, a member of the Boulmetis family keeps the tradition of hat making alive in a city that once was among the hat-making capitals of America. Corny and Wilbur Messick of Bivalve will likely be the last of their family to make the graceful wooden tongs that watermen use to harvest oysters. The Day Basket Company in North East makes baskets the way it has since 1876, with local flitch-cut white oak softened in a wood-fired steam box. The state's only working one-room schoolhouse survives in the lower Chesapeake Bay - on an island that is slowly disappearing. And Baltimore's "Arabbers," reminders of a vanished horse-and-wagon era, still sing their chants in a few old neighborhoods. For more than two years, John Sherwood roamed Maryland's small towns and city neighborhoods, traveled Appalachian back roads, and sailed the Chesapeake looking for people whose work or way of life recalled the state's rich and varied traditions. Maryland's Vanishing Lives is Sherwood's vivid account of the people he met on those journeys. In this collection of sixty-six short profiles, illustrated with memorable photographs by Edwin Remsberg, Sherwood preserves for posterity the lives of Marylanders who hang on to values and skills that are quickly disappearing. Working in a country store or an old-time movie house, on a small tobacco farm or a weathered skipjack, Sherwood's subjects interest us as people, as stubborn survivors who have watched - sometimes defiantly, sometimes wistfully - as the world moved on. They invite us to reflect on how dramatically life has changed over the past fifty, or even twenty, years. They remind us of the human costs of consolidation and modernization. Theirs are often poignant stories of what happens to family businesses and ordinary folk in the face of new technology, suburban sprawl, franchise outlets,
Art & Photography
Book Info
