John Alexander (4) (1945–)

My copy of this book is the paperback edition, published in 2000. It was originally published in 1992, and my edition only added a preface to update some of the information in the book. So it's not current, unfortunately. However, that doesn't really matter for most of the information presented in the book.

Most of the book focuses on the natural history of the Outer Banks, and how sand, water, and wind have shaped them. It also describes some of the flora and fauna of the Banks, and spends a chapter covering the scientific investigation of a very unusual king snake, which appears to be unique to a specific section of the Outer Banks. However, it also spends a couple of chapters on history. One details Blackbeard's final battle with Lieutenant Robert Maynard and shows how the configuration of the land, channels, and shoals were key to the battle. The other historical chapter reports on the Wright brothers and their flight tests at Kitty Hawk, the difficult Outer Banks weather they had to cope with, and their eventual successful powered flight.

The final chapter of the book discusses several threats to the Outer Banks, including drilling for oil in the Atlantic, proposed construction of jetties to stabilize the Oregon Inlet (which would interfere with the natural processes that build and maintain the barrier islands), and threats to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. This chapter is really the only one affected by the book being 30 years old. The preface updates it to some extent, but only to 1999, and a lot has happened since then. It would be useful to have an update on the current threats.

The style of writing in this book changed with the subject matter. Some chapters took a more scientific approach, especially the one about the king snake. Others were more historical, although the chapter on Blackbeard also included detailed analysis of various maps of Ocracoke from before and after 1718. The opening chapter, "Sand," was almost poetic at times.

Overall, I enjoyed the book, and there were times when I couldn't put it down. Other times it dragged a bit. Maybe the most frustrating thing was that several times the authors referred to pictures that were not included in the book. In particular, they mentioned an apparently famous photo of the Outer Banks taken from Apollo 9 several times in different chapters. I wonder if that photo was included in the original edition of the book, but omitted from the paperback edition I have. I would be curious to read something updated that addresses current issues faced by the Outer Banks, but overall it was a worthwhile read for me.… (more)