Tales – Peter Colt Josephs recounts the colloquial history of his beloved Island.
“Tales of the Massachusetts South Seas: Stories from the Cape Cod Archipelago, Martha’s Vineyard,” By Peter Colt Josephs. Illustrated by Jo Anne Briggs. $40 at Bunch of Grapes.
Peter Colt Josephs is a scholar, the...
‘A Magdalene Awakens’ is an eerie tale
Nancy Safford’s magical mystery tour, “A Magdalene Awakens: Hidden Temple Secrets,” takes the reader from Sedona, Ariz., to the Rennes-le-Château commune of southern France, to Glastonbury, England, then loop-de-loops between the France and Sedona...
Surviving the hurly-burly: A man in search of himself
In “Lucky Jim,” his perfectly titled autobiography, James Hart describes nearly six decades of a life lived both perilously and fabulously. Readers will conclude that Mr. Hart is indeed a lucky man to still...
Shipwrecks and slavery
Tom Dresser, reformed bus driver and relentless Island historian, has published his eighth history book on our place. Believe me, you want this on your coffee table or in the guest bedroom this summer....
Keeping it real
“Fake news” is credited in recent years as a major accelerant to the fiery and divisive state of our national discourse. The creation and dissemination of false content is now seen as a largely...
‘The Bloom Girls’: An engaging debut novel by Emily Cavanagh
Authors tend to bristle when asked if a work of fiction is autobiographical; they prefer to think their imaginations are boundless enough to provide an authentic story. But all things being equal, “Is it...
Howard Zinn: Banned in Arkansas, discussed on Martha’s Vineyard
Recently the Arkansas legislature has been considering a bill that proposes to ban from public schools books and other materials written by, or about, historian Howard Zinn. Zinn, who died in 2010, wrote more...
Richard North Patterson dissects the Trump ascendancy in ‘Fever Swamp’
Island resident Richard North Patterson, a New York Times bestselling author and an early and enthusiastic Trump basher, now brings us a look at the 2016 presidential race as it unfolded.
“Fever Swamp: A Journey...
From ‘The Urge to Create’: Musician and stonemason Johnny Hoy
We sometimes wonder how many people living on the Vineyard are actively engaged in creative pursuits. Is it 10 percent? Thirty percent? More? In “The Urge to Create: Vineyard Portraits,” Jane Dreeben collected 50...
From “The Urge to Create”: Baker Juli Vanderhoop
We sometimes wonder how many people living on the Vineyard are actively engaged in creative pursuits. Is it 10 percent? Thirty percent? More? In “The Urge to Create: Vineyard Portraits,” Jane Dreeben collected 50...
With his second novel, Amor Towles delivers another jewel
“A Gentleman in Moscow,” the second novel of Island seasonal resident Amor Towles, will surpass your expectations.
As readers, we tend to fret about second books. Many first-book successes are orphans. If you were a...
See the ball, hit the ball
Thank God for Jim Kaplan. The veteran sports journalist and author of 14 books on baseball has shown up in these fretful times with “Clearing the Bases,” a book about baseball that reminds us...
What the world needs now: Sandra Pimentel’s ‘Blind Acceptance’
Sandra Pimentel’s engrossing memoir, “Blind Acceptance,” starts out with an “Aw, cute!” bright-eyed photo of herself taken in her first year of life, 1942, in Quincy. In a recent phone interview with The Times, she...
Ward Just looks back to ‘The Eastern Shore’
As the image of an Adirondack chair on the cover of Ward Just’s 18th novel suggests, “The Eastern Shore” is the relaxed but not quite comfortable reflection of Ned Ayres, a lifelong newspaperman. The...
Edward Hoagland unveils third novel, ‘In the Country of the Blind’
Best known as a highly regarded essayist, Edward Hoagland of Edgartown has also written three novels. The first, “Cat Man,” published in 1956, came two years after he graduated from Harvard. His latest, “In...
A love story for all times, now in book form
The heartwarming story of how Cynthia Riggs and Howard Attebery found each other again after 62 years, fell in love, and married on the Vineyard has been told many times and many ways. Now,...
Love on the rebound: Crazy bounces in paradise
Paul Samuel Dolman has written three riveting books about his life and what happens to it as he continues his search for peace and contentment. “Seven Crazy Days in Maui” is the third.
He does...
Experience history through fashion with ‘American Style and Spirit’
One way to chronicle the passing of time is through fashion — the perpetual changing of styles to accommodate the needs and tastes of each decade. In a new book, “American Style and Spirit:...
Love on the rebound: Crazy bounces in paradise
Paul Samuel Dolman has written three riveting books about his life and what happens to it as he continues his search for peace and contentment. “Seven Crazy Days in Maui” is the third.
He does...
Elliott Dacher’s ‘Transitions’ empowers readers to be their own hero
Most people who get really excited about Star Wars nerd out on the astronomy of the Perlemian Trade Route, or the mechanics of the Millennium Falcon’s Girodine sublight drives, or the evolutionary link between...