We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,749,864.86 | Books Available: 730,937 | Members Online: 161

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - Golden Light: The 1878 Diary of Captain Thomas Rose Lake

Golden Light The 1878 Diary of Captain Thomas Rose Lake
Author: James B. Kirk, Thomas Rose Lake

The record kept by a young New Jersey sea captain for the year 1878 was written in a leather diary measuring a "little less than three by four inches." In this tiny document is the story of one full year in the life of the sloop Golden Light and of her captain, Thomas Rose Lake, the year before his death from tuberculosis at age twenty-two. Mi... more »raculously, the diary survived one hundred years and fell into the hands of James B. Kirk, II an English teacher and historian. With annotations and details imbuing this journal with context, he turned the laconic entries of Captain Lake into a fascinating picture of a vanished time, a place and a way of life. In this uniquely personal maritime history, we are also touched by the example of a "good life" - even when it is painfully clear that the life is to be cut short. Golden Light: The 1878 Diary of Captain Thomas Rose Lake is a wondrous vehicle for travelling back in time to 1878. This period marked the end of the age of sail and the agrarian era in America - and what now seems a national innocence. As the author writes of the original diary: In its pages is the final cry of a way of life which, for better or worse, would return no more. As such, the diary is a poignant vignette - an ambrotype faded at the edges but with the central portrait clear - of a young man's happiness, simplicity, and struggle. It must give us pause. In a foreword, New Jersey's eminent historian John T. Cunningham, who offered early encouragement to the author, calls this "a volume that is a treasure trove." Thomas D. Carroll, folklorist and writer, who has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, and worked for the Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution, calls the work "a Rosetta stone" for the mid-late 19th century coast. Maritime historian John M. Kochiss describes the magic of reading first-hand history this way: "Unlike any other book before, I found myself mouthing, then almost hearing Captain Lake's words... And all this alchemy brews forth." And Stephen Dunn, winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, says: "History needs its passionate pursuers. Golden Light is alive with such attentiveness." Golden Light provides a rare picture of the all but forgotten east coast oyster trade in the last quarter of the 19th century, and, as such, is of great value to social historians. Beyond that, however, it is the portrait, indelible and poignant, of the last year in a young man's life. If he knows and fears the seriousness of his illness, Captain Lake makes no mention of it. He embraces each day, its hard duties and simple pleasures, as though he had a future entire. Clearly, it was a life he loved. A century and a quarter later, it is a life and time we are privileged to see - bathed in the golden light of a younger, more innocent America. James B. Kirk II died before the work was completed and his son James B. Kirk III finished the task so lovingly begun.

ISBN-13: 9780945582854
ISBN-10: 0945582854
Publication Date: 2/2003
Pages: 327
Rating:

0 stars, based on 0 rating

Publisher: Down the Shore Publishing
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 1
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Biographies & Memoirs >> General
History >> Americas >> United States >> 19th Century >> General
History >> World >> Transportation >> Ships >> General
Travel >> United States >> States >> New Jersey
Nonfiction >> Transportation >> Ships >> History

Back to the Top ↑

Search - Golden Light: The 1878 Diary of Captain Thomas Rose Lake

Loading...