Even before the Pilgrims landed in 1620, Cape Cod and its islands promised paradise to visitors, both native and European. In Paul Schneiders sure hands, the story of this waterland created by glaciers and refined by storms and tides -- and of its varied inhabitants -- becomes an irresistible biography of a place.Cape Cods Great Beach, Marthas Vineyard, and Nantucket are romantic stops on Schneiders roughly chronological human and natural history. His book is a lucid and compelling collage of seaside ecology, Indians and colonists, religion and revolution, shipwrecks and hurricanes, whalers and vengeful sperm whales, glorious clipper ships and todays beautiful but threatened beaches. Schneiders superb eye for story and detail illuminates both history and landscape. A wonderful introduction, it will also appeal to the millions of people who already have warm associations with these magical places.About the Author:Paul Schneider, author of the highly praised and successful The Adirondacks, a 1997 New York Times Notable Book, lives with his wife and child in Marthas Vineyard.