Wind, currents, tides, and sand. Kingsnakes and rice rats. The disappearance of the Lost Colony, the raids of the pirate Blackbeard, and the Wright brothers' first attempts at flight. The Outer Banks is a place like no other.
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
Leaves the reader with a clear sense of place and an understanding of the forces of wind and water.—Publishers Weekly
This is a guidebook to be taken along when exploring this fragile place that deserves to be preserved.—Booklist
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
[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
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
A beautifully drawn picture of 'the resiliency and self-correcting mechanism of the natural order' at work on the Outer Banks.—Outer Banks Magazine
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 book to awaken wonder yet also apprehension. . . . Ribbon of Sand is superb.—Sewanee Review
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
