"Everyone has to learn to see the West Indies tropics for himself," wrote V.S. Naipaul in The Middle Passage. "The landscape has never been recorded...the depth of sky, the brilliancy of light, the insubstantiality of colour in the tropics. The more gifted painters have ceased to record the landscape: the patterns of the leaves are too beguiling." The Islands and the Sea includes dozens of writers--poets and novelists, naturalists and explorers--who, like Naipaul help us to see the beguiling Caribbean through their eyes. ...
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"Everyone has to learn to see the West Indies tropics for himself," wrote V.S. Naipaul in The Middle Passage. "The landscape has never been recorded...the depth of sky, the brilliancy of light, the insubstantiality of colour in the tropics. The more gifted painters have ceased to record the landscape: the patterns of the leaves are too beguiling." The Islands and the Sea includes dozens of writers--poets and novelists, naturalists and explorers--who, like Naipaul help us to see the beguiling Caribbean through their eyes. Editor John Murray opens this anthology, the first of its kind, with an informed essay that provides a perspective on the region in history and literature. Murray then presents writers ranging from Daniel Defoe to Barry Lopez, from Charles Darwin to Edward O. Wilson. In these selections, one can step ashore with Columbus on San Salvador Island in 1492, travel up the forbidding Orinoco River with Sir Walter Raleigh, and explore ancient Mayan ruins along the coast with swashbuckling John Stephens in 1843. Ernest Hemingway, writing to Maxwell Perkins from Key West, Florida, describes the aftermath of the famous Matecumbe hurricane: "Indian Key absolutely swept clean, not a blade of grass, and over the high center of it were scattered live conchs that came in with the sea, craw fish, and dead morays. The whole bottom of the sea blew over it." Other contemporary writers include Barry Lopez, Derek Walcott, Rachel Carson, Jamaica Kincaid, and Roger Caras. With each selection Murray includes an informative introduction. A Republic of Rivers, John Murray's anthology of nature writing on Alaska and the Yukon, was hailed for its judicious selections, deft editing, and, most importantly, its ability to capture and communicate a sense of place. In The Islands and the Sea, he once again gathers an enthralling collection of writings that convey the beauty Caribbean's luminous waters, its rich, green hillsides, teeming reefs, and remarkable varied people.
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Add this copy of The Islands and the Sea: Five Centuries of Nature to cart. $3.49, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press, USA.
Add this copy of The Islands and the Sea: Five Centuries of Nature to cart. $3.49, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press, USA.
Add this copy of The Islands and the Sea: Five Centuries of Nature to cart. $3.49, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press, USA.
Add this copy of The Islands and the Sea: Five Centuries of Nature to cart. $3.49, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press, USA.
Add this copy of The Islands and the Sea: Five Centuries of Nature to cart. $3.51, very good condition, Sold by Books From California rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Simi Valley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press.
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Very good in very good dust jacket. The copy shows some external wear and dirtiness, but is in otherwise good, readable condition. Very Clean Copy-Over 500, 000 Internet Orders Filled.
Add this copy of The Islands and the Sea: Five Centuries of Nature to cart. $5.00, very good condition, Sold by Dunaway Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saint Louis, MO, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press, USA.
Add this copy of Islands and the Sea: Five Centuries of Nature Writing to cart. $6.89, new condition, Sold by pacaritambo books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austin, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press.
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B&W era photo section; B&W maps. New in Near Fine jacket. Book UNREAD 1991 Oxford Univ. Press hardcover & dust jacket (in mylar cover), first edition, first printing. Looks like a bit of tanning to top DJ back cover edge. Interior perfect. Edited by John Muarray. Bookmark states this was/is on the Stanford Univ. list for a travel course. B&W era photo section plus B&W maps and decorations.
Add this copy of The Islands and the Sea: Five Centuries of Nature to cart. $9.00, very good condition, Sold by Gail P Kennon Book-Comber rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from West New York, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford.
Add this copy of The Islands and the Sea: Five Centuries of Nature to cart. $10.00, like new condition, Sold by Bookfeathers LLC rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lewisburg, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press.
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Fine. Not ex-lib. Hardcover with olive paper over boards and teal quarter-cloth, in white jacket with Michael McCurdy artwork across front, large 8vo. xx + 329pp. Index, bibliography, b/w plates on paper, map. Fine/Fine. Book and jacket are as new: clean, tight, square and unmarked. Very bright jacket in Brodart.
Add this copy of The Islands and the Sea: Five Centuries of Nature to cart. $13.24, like new condition, Sold by The Parnassus BookShop rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1991 by Oxford University Press.
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Fine in Fine jacket. Size: 8vo-over 7; First Edition Hardcover Bookand Dust Jacket in Fine Condition. Monochrome illustrations throughout. Editor John Murray starts this anthology with an informed essay that provides a perspective on the region in history and literature. He presents the writers, from Daniel DeFoe to Barry Lopez, from Charles Darwin to Edward O. Wilson. With each selection Murray provides an informative introduction to the writer and the selection Handsome binding of bright and spotless green half cloth with bright and sharp gilt titles, olive green paper-wrapped boards; tight, solid and square. Internals also as new. Jacket Illustration by Michael McCurdy and designed by Nora Wertz. 329 pages with Bibliography and Index. 9.5 x 6.25 inches. 1991, Oxford University Press, USA.
