Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American Lighthouse - Eric Jay Dolin

"What Moby-Dick is to whales, Brilliant Beacons is to lighthouses-a transformative account of a familiar yet mystical subject." -Laurence Bergreen, author of Columbus: The Four Voyages
In this "magnificent compendium" (New Republic), best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin presents the definitive history of American lighthouses, and in so doing "illuminate[s] the history of America itself" (Entertainment Weekly). Treating readers to a memorable cast of characters and "fascinating anecdotes" (New York Review of Books), Dolin shows how the story of the nation, from a regional backwater colony to global industrial power, can be illustrated through its lighthouses-from New England to the Gulf of Mexico, the Great Lakes, the Pacific Coast, and all the way to Alaska and Hawaii.
A Captain and Classic Boat Best Nautical Book of 2016