Ribbon of Sand: The Amazing Convergence of the Ocean and the Outer Banks

by John Alexander, James Lazell

Overview

Alexander and Lazell's delightful study of North Carolina's Outer Banks contains a wealth of statistics and facts . . . A Ribbon of Sand—written in romantic prose—is more like a novel. . . . Small and lightweight with chapters of less than 20 pages, this is the perfect book to take on a trip to the North Carolina coast. Interesting and informative, you'll look at a grain of sand or a wave with a whole new perspective.—TasteFull

Ribbon of Sand is a rich and beautifully written exploration of the unique natural history and romantic past of the Outer Banks, the fragile barrier islands that stretch for almost two hundred miles down the North Carolina coast. A new preface discusses recent developments on the Banks, including the discovery and excavation of a wreck believed to be Blackbeard's ship and the continuing threat of offshore oil drilling, and throughout the book the authors reveal the controversies, natural wonders, and fascinating legends that make the Outer Banks one of the nation's most beloved treasures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807848746
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	05/22/2000
Series:	Chapel Hill Books
Edition description:	With a new preface by the authors
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

John Alexander has worked as a journalist and is now president of the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina.

James Lazell is president of The Conservation Agency and lives in Jamestown, Rhode Island.

Table of Contents

1992 John Alexander and James Lazell; Preface CONTENTS

Preface
Acknowledgments

Chapter One: Sand
Chapter Two: Land
Chapter Three: Water
Chapter Four: Blackbeard
Chapter Five: Woods
Chapter Six: Trilogy
Chapter Seven: Flight
Chapter Eight: Convergences

References
Index

What People are Saying About This

Tom D. Crouch

A delight and an education....Fixing their vision on the intersection of natural and human history, the authors offer compelling insights into the past, present, and future of the Outer Banks.
—(Tom D. Crouch, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution )

From the Publisher

Full of solid scientific lore but also very much attuned to the human element in interaction with the wonderful outdoors.—Roy Parker Jr., Fayetteville Observer-Times



[A] chronicle of the inextricable connections between the natural history and human history of this ecosystem. . . . This book provides gentle yet informative reading to round out a portrait of the Outer Banks.—Audubon Naturalist News



With a scientist's eye for the hidden complexities of the natural world and a historian's knowledge of how human undertakings are shaped by—and shape—that world, Alexander and Lazell examine the lessons that the Outer Banks have to teach anyone seeking to understand the natural and human dynamics of America's threatened barrier islands.—NC Home



A book to awaken wonder yet also apprehension. . . . Ribbon of Sand is superb.—Sewanee Review



Leaves the reader with a clear sense of place and an understanding of the forces of wind and water.—Publishers Weekly



A beautifully drawn picture of 'the resiliency and self-correcting mechanism of the natural order' at work on the Outer Banks.—Outer Banks Magazine



A fascinating look at the Outer Banks. . . . [The authors] appreciate the vital importance of the Outer Banks as a unique, living, changing ecosystem. By the end of Ribbon of Sand, so do we.—Islands



Whether describing Nature's part in Blackbeard's dramatic last battle or explaining the environmental issues of today's coast, this fine book paints a distinct portrait of a delicate ecosystem and how humans have forever affected it.—In Southern Words



This is a guidebook to be taken along when exploring this fragile place that deserves to be preserved.—Booklist

Editorial Reviews

This book provides gentle yet informative reading to round out a portrait of the Outer Banks.

"Audubon Naturalist News"

A beautifully drawn picture of 'the resiliency and self-correcting mechanism of the natural order' at work on the Outer Banks.

"Outer Banks Magazine"

Leaves the reader with a clear sense of place and an understanding of the forces of wind and water.

"Publishers Weekly"

This fine book paints a distinct portrait of a delicate ecosystem and how humans have forever affected it.

"In Southern Words"

This is a guidebook to be taken along when exploring this fragile place that deserves to be preserved.

"Booklist"

From the Publisher

Whether describing Nature's part in Blackbeard's dramatic last battle or explaining the environmental issues of today's coast, this fine book paints a distinct portrait of a delicate ecosystem and how humans have forever affected it.

In Southern Words

North Carolina's Outer Banks region, 180 miles of shifting sands, has both a romantic past--including the lost colony of Roanoke Island, the Wright brothers, pirates and shipwrecks--and a unique natural history. Alexander, a former newspaper editor, and naturalist Lazell, president of the Conservation Agency, examine this fragile ecosystem and unravel an evolutionary mystery. Explaining the actions of ocean currents, winds and waves, they show how island contours change, how inlets open and close. They describe the fauna and flora of maritime forests and beaches and search for a rare Ocracoke king snake, sticticeps. Their finding it yields an engrossing story of field science and discloses a remarkable example of relatively recent co-evolution (snake, rice rat, warmyrtle) . The authors also chart the changes brought by development of the island. As natural history or as description of barrier islands, this book leaves the reader with a clear sense of place and an understanding of the forces of wind and water. Illustrations. (May)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In a popular style of science writing that will appeal to lay readers, the authors discuss the history, geography, and ecology of North Carolina's Outer Banks in the context of barrier island geology and ecology. Among the topics they explore are the interactions of wind, sea, sand, and land on the Outer Banks, the influence of the Gulf Stream, geological development, and the ecological role of the maritime forest. Line drawings of native flora and fauna and maps (not seen) accompany the text. Alexander, a journalist, and Lazell, a scientist, love the unspoiled Outer Banks and warn of possible threats to the area. A useful supplement to more specialized studies (Orrin H. Pilkey's From Currituck to Calabash, Duke Univ. Pr, 1982, and Paul V. Godfrey's Barrier Island Ecology of Cape Lookout National Seashore and Vicinity, N. Carolina, G.P.O., 1976), this work is suitable for natural history collections in public and academic libraries.-- Judith B. Barnett, Pell Marine Science Lib., Univ. of Rhode Island, Kingston

Library Journal

A fascinating account of the natural and human history and the ecology of the elongated beaches of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, which stretch down the Atlantic Coast a hundred miles to the lighthouse at Cape Hatteras, then southwestward in an 80-mile arc to Cape Lookout--islands of sand, never more than a few miles wide. Lightly illustrated. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews