REVIEWS through 500 years of often turbulent historical waters. Profusely illustrated, and with informative bibliographic essays and explanations of terms rather than the usual footnotes, the book is aimed at the intelligent and inquiring lay person rather than the scholar. Coastal Maine is a welcome supplement to, but not a complete replacement for, William H. Rowe's 1948 Maritime History of Maine, a classic which has been recently reissued in paperback. Duncan repeatedly cites Rowe as one of his useful sources, but the books differ markedly in emphasis. For example, Duncan devotes less than half the space that Rowe does to a discussion ofMainebui ltclippers, but explores the greatearly20th century coal and lumber schooners in far greater depth . Duncan has assembled a fascinating and extensive array of information on the early exploration of the coast, written very much from a fellow-sailor's point of view, and discusses the boatbuilding and fishing industries in some detail. In these three important areas, Duncan's work is a vast improvement over Rowe's narrower point of view. In his foreword, Duncan, over-modestly, I think , claims that he is "not a professional historian and not expecting to discover much new truth." He is not, he says, much of a rummager in archives. He leaves to others the deciphering of "logbooks and customhouse records." If he has not unearthed some previously unknown bit of writing, he has brought to the interpretation of published material considerable experience and wit. Duncan is at his best when he interprets history from his own considerable experience or, in more modem times, listens to the voices of still-living participants in the Maine coast's evolving saga. In short, where Duncan can empathize, he is an incredibly effective writer, more so than in the passages in which he writes from a sense of historical duty. Overall , Coastal Maine is a magnificent book, a good, long rewarding read.
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