Earl Swift

Tangier Island, Virginia, is a community unique on the American landscape. Mapped by John Smith in 1608, settled during the American Revolution, the tiny sliver of mud is home to 470 hardy people who live an isolated and challenging existence, with one foot in the 21st century and another in times long passed. They are separated from their countrymen by the nation's largest estuary, and a twelve-mile boat trip across often tempestuous water-- the...

"In this follow-up to the acclaimed New York Times bestseller Chesapeake Requiem, Earl Swift rediscovers the final three Apollo Moon landings, arguing that these overlooked missions-- distinguished by the use of the revolutionary Lunar Roving Vehicle-- were the pinnacle of human exploration"-- December 12, 1972. Apollo 17 astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt had flown nearly a quarter-million miles to the man in the moon's left eye, landed, and...

"A man-made wonder, a connective network, an economic force, a bringer of blight and sprawl and the possibility of escape the U.S. interstate system changed the face of our country. The Big Roads charts the creation of these essential American highways. From the turn-of-the-century car racing entrepreneur who spurred the citizen-led "Good Roads" movement, to the handful of driven engineers who conceived of the interstates and how they would work years...