Bücher der Reihe Maryland Paperback Bookshelf

In 1956, at the end of his career, Mencken had produced three volumes of memoirs and steady stream of journalism. For this book, he collected those pieces he thought most true, most pertinent, or most likely to blow the dust from the reader's brain.

His own drawings illustrate the stories, and they, too, win us over with their honesty and charm.

These two enterprises are worthy and profitable, but a knowledge of these facts will not help you understand this city any more truly than the study of those long lists of products once diligently conned in school gave you an inkling of Tunis, Singapore and Wilkes-Barre."-from Baltimore: A Not too Serious History

brings the story into modern focus and again charges the reader with the responsibility of caring for the life of the Bay.

It explores long-forgotten aspects of old English law, such as theftbote (an early form of "victim compensation"), deodand (an animal or article which, having caused the death of a human being, was forfeited to the Crown for "pious uses"), and the blood test for murderers.

Watermen is a singular work, a book that will touch anyone who has ever glimpsed the peope of the Chesapeake, whether in literature or in life.

Memories of the author's youth are incorporated in a novel about the boyhood escapades of Noah Marlin, the son of a Chesapeake Bay waterman.

Colonial life and commerce, shipbuilding and the merchant marine, privateers and self-protection-all are treated with insight, drama, and thoroughness in a fascinating maritime history, long out of print and now made widely available for the first time.

As a fictionalized account of life on the Chesapeake Bay at the turn of the century, Run to the Lee has the same appeal to all ages as Gilbert Byron's own beloved novel, The Lord's Oysters.

Richly detailed and warmly nostalgic, Miss Susie Slagle's is about to charm a new generation of readers.

Examines the complex ecology of Chesapeake Bay, and observes its marshes and swamps, and its jellyfish, ospreys, and fiddler crabs.

Sheads, a National Park Service ranger and specialist on the event, introduces the book, which will remain a popular favorite for years to come.