DURSMIRG
THE WATER IS WIDE by Pat Conroy; my comment: This is a
very entertaining and factual book, colorfully descriptive and
immensely insightful though it was definitely slanted to make
the author, who also happened to be the main character,
look like a savior, his students to look persecuted by their
circumstances, and the local white population as the
persecutors. After becoming acquainted with the island and
its people and reading the book, my impression was that the
book was a very good read but the author only came to
“steal the thunder and run away”. That was then; I just
reread this same book 30 years later and I came away with
the feeling that even though Pat Conroy didn’t stick around
to right the wrongs he so adeptly pointed out in his book, he
at least focused the spotlight at a problem in this world that
desperately needed attention and correction. I too have had
his youthful zeal and do-gooder inspirations only to have
those dreams crushed by the “cast in stone” establishment,
therefore I share his dreams.
THE YEARLING and CROSS CREEK by Marjorie Kinnan
Rawlings, a prominent St. Augustine resident who wrote
these time best-selling classics about Florida’s wild
backwoods frontier in the days before the state became a
tourist trap.
WIND FROM THE CAROLINAS by Robert Wilder; my
comment: this book is one of the few books that I love to
reread because it has made the history of America and this
historical area come alive and take the reader magically to
the “Sea Islands” in years gone by.
THE FAVORITE UNCLE REMUS by Joel Chandler Harris; my
comment: To feel the pulse of the old down south and pick
up its “vibes”, this wonderfully narrated colorful collection of
stories puts the reader in personal contact with the local
language and a way of thinking in this special time and
place. My very favorite stories are; “The Wonderful Tar-
Baby”, “The Briar Patch” and “Brer Rabbit Gets a Licking”.
TUXEDO PARK by Jennet Conant; my comment: this book is
not expressly about the Sea Islands but is about some of the
most powerful and influential people, like Alfred Loomis the
world has ever known and what they brought to this part of
the world as they commandeered the islands as their private
sanctuaries when it was a real paradise. (Read pages 95-
99for a description of Hilton Head Island)
LIGHTHOUSE, NEW MOON RISING, BELOVED INVADER by
Eugenia Price; my comment: It seems hard to make a
blanket statement about one particular author but Eugenia
Price wrote such books as; Maria about Saint Augustine,
Florida and others relating to the various Sea Islands. Both
my wife Jane and I have read every book of Eugenia Price’s
and each and every one turned out to be a real gem. Her
later books tended to have a religious slant that drags the
reader away from actualities.
STIRRIN’ THE POTS ON DAUFUSKIE by Billie Burn; my
comments: This is Daufuskie Island, before development
came in the 1970s, its food, its people, its history and its
customs in a well illustrated book that can be thumbed
through over and over again. My wife Jane also happens to
be one of the contributors. Pages 162 and 163 give a short
account of our travels and also Jane’s famous “Honey
Whole Wheat Bread” recipe. I must add here what will make
this bread the ultimate sensation; while still hot from the
oven and just cool enough to slice, smear generously with
real butter and then douse with honey. That is guaranteed
to make the self-indulgent person into a glutton!
MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL by John
Berendt; my comments: This is an extremely insightful look
into a unique place that has no equals. Savannah, Georgia.
It cannot be compared to any other place and it is unique,
this book takes the reader into the city behind the scenes
and introduces them intimately to many of the eccentrics
that make the place what it is.
The book is a gripper and will definitely be long remembered
by the reader…try it.
AN ISLAND NAMED DAUFUSKIE by Billie Burn; my
comments; This 800 plus page illustrated compendium
nearly falls into the category of a reference book and
beautifully records the area history.
PRAYING FOR SHEETROCK by Melissa Fay Green, my
comments: This book takes the reader into one of the Deep
South’s most scandalous places. You will meet the movers
and shakers that stooped to anything and flaunted the law
to all as they snatched up their spoils just like the pirates of
old. Read chapter 6, “Saint Catherine’s Island” for more of
my comments on this fascinating and intriguing book.
THE SHOOTING OF DAN MCGREW and other classic
Yukon poems by Robert Service.
CUBA CONFIDENTIAL by Ann Louise Bardach:; This book
goes beyond telling a story with the most phenomenal in-
depth research interspersed with personal glimpses into all
levels of Cuban society both in Cuba and Miami before and
after Castro’s takeover.
The objectiveness of Ann Louise Bardach is not opinionated
but factual and she has recorded a complete chapter of
authentic American history with her book. I give this book my
highest recommendation as a must read. This gripping book
will objectively open the reader’s eyes to the political stench
that has become the standard of acceptable governmental
behavior. The author brings the reader up to the behind the
scenes knowledge of present day politicians aspirations and
behavior through 2004.
I personally would make this book required reading as a
requisite to a high school diploma.
***
FIFTY FEET IN PARADISE by David Nolan; I would have to
class this excellently written volume as a classic of Florida
history that looks at the other side of history that is not
neatly packaged and recorded. Extensively documented
through exhaustive research of Florida’s written records and
especially his relentless interviews with the people that
actually lived this history, David Nolan brings history into
focus. Having been actively involved myself, though in a
small way I have personally had an opportunity to not only
meet many of the people that the author interviewed but
even do business with them. I am impressed. The book of
Florida’s booms and busts, dreams and despairs is one of
my favorites and I therefore recommend it because besides
being a very good read it will also teach a profound lesson
of finance and speculation.
WEST! SAIL WEST, MAN! Around the World in Twenty Feet
by Hein Zenker;
This is a real story about real people that not only dreamed
the impossible dream but also lived it to the fullest. The
husband and wife team of Hein and Siggi Zenker tell their
extraordinary story in riveting first person fashion that will
leave the reader with an uplifting inspiration.
Jane and I became good friends and neighbors to these real
life adventurers that did as we did and put the work-a-day
humdrum world behind them and opened the door to the
unknown, stepped through and made the world their
home…and did it ten years before we began our voyage of
Dursmirg. We are deeply impressed by their book and
happen to know that the stories of their adventures within
are very true but cannot fully relate the dynamics of their
powerful free spirits.
To us they are the kind of people that make the world a
better place and knowing them has forever added to our
hope that dreams are there to be lived.
A couple of quotes from the book; “Far better it is to dare
mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though
checked by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who
neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a
gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat”.
“Crouched deep in the cockpit, I remained there for a long
time and observed the foaming seas and listened to the
howling gale. And for the x-time I pondered why apparently
sane people venture into this mess repeatedly.”
“Are we the only dreamers? Blinded in believing we are at
home in an element, which in reality is out to destroy us, by
forces we are unable to control nor understand. Fortunately
“dreamers” are optimists who do not cease believing in their
power to prevail-like the man in the cartoon: floating on a
raft in the middle of the ocean, catching wind in a net.”
This book to me is in a class and ranked with the best of the
best sea stories I have ever read…need I say more?
SAILING ALONE AROUND THE WORLD AND THE
VOYAGE OF THE LIBERDADE by Joshua Slocum. These
two books are all time classic sailing stories that have stood
the true test of time. These kinds of books are the variety
that any lover of the sea or sailing will want to own and pass
on to their next generation and also reread as I have.
LAST TRAIN TO PARADISE by Les Standiford;
This is a biographical look into the marvelous
accomplishments of a determined visionary whose
neuroticism was focused to make the world a better place.
Henry Flagler dedicated his long life and enormous fortune
to social minded pioneering never following in another’s
footsteps while he turned his boundless dreams into
unparalleled monuments out shadowing all who came before
him.
This is an incomparable story of the biggest chapter in
Florida’s centuries of romantic history.
I highly recommend the book for those who appreciate a
monumental true history told by one of the best authors of
our time.
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