The Inner Islands: A Carolinian's Sound Country Chronicle

by Bland Simpson, Ann Cary Simpson (Photographer)

Overview

Blending history, oral history, autobiography, and travel narrative, Bland Simpson explores the islands that lie in the sounds, rivers, and swamps of North Carolina's inner coast. In each of the fifteen chapters in the book, Simpson covers a single island or group of islands, many of which, were it not for the buffering Outer Banks, would be lost to the ebbs and flows of the Atlantic. Instead they are home to unique plant and animal species and well-established hardwood forests, and many retain vestiges of an earlier human history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807876749
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	09/06/2007
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	232
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Bland Simpson is a member of the Tony Award-winning Red Clay Ramblers and has collaborated on such musicals as King Mackerel, Kudzu, and the Broadway hit Fool Moon. He teaches creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the 2005 Fine Arts recipient of the North Carolina Award, the state's highest civilian honor. His books include Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals and Into the Sound Country, which also features photography by his wife, Ann.
Ann Cary Simpson is associate dean of the School of Government at UNC Chapel Hill.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Bland Simpson is the perfect companion for any journey, especially this one. Witty, informed, energetic!—Annie Dillard, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and Teaching a Stone to Talk

Editorial Reviews

Well-rounded. . . . A perfect guide. . . . Highly recommended reading.—Sea History



The Simpsons provide yet another memorable portrait of a region that's endlessly fascinating. . . . [Bland Simpson is] a gifted storyteller with an evocative style. . . . Anne Simpson's striking black-and-white photos complete the vision. . . . A keepsake.—Our State



Simpson imparts the fleeting nature of island life to his readers, capturing the mood of each place with his unique voice and style, interspersing archival history and lore with his own experience.—Coastland Times



Part travel log, part history, part memoir delicately tinged with Elizabethan syntax, Simpson's north-to-south trip through some of the state's least known locales will make you want to rent a boat and travel from Machelhe Island to the Cape Fear chain.—Pilot



Simpson's words are elegant, and the descriptions multi-layered. . . . Whether you're a native of the Old North State or a more recent transplant, Simpson's narrative should be required reading. You can't beat the combination of one of our best writers with one of the most intriguing and vital parts of the state.—Creative Loafing



[Simpson's] love of these islands shines through on every page.—Bloomsbury Review



The Inner Islands is sure to be thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by scholars, students, and anyone attracted to the story of forgotten and beautiful places.—North Carolina Historical Review



Bland Simpson is a man in love—in love with landscapes and waterscapes, boats and voyages; dolphins and pelicans; history and legend; and the energetic, often cantankerous, and wonderfully generous individuals who live along the Carolina coast. He is also generous. In The Inner Islands, he shares his passion by taking readers on a rollicking cruise down the coastal sound country. . . . Simpson has a gift for painting vivid verbal pictures that help us see what he does, and our vision is made even clearer by the fine photographs of his wife, Ann Cary Simpson.—Raleigh News & Observer



Simpson's book is a love song to the ephemeral inner islands, the vanished lives they have harbored and seen pass, and the essential brevity and beauty of islands and man alike.—Winston-Salem Journal



Author Bland Simpson, with photos by his wife, Ann Cary Simpson, offers readers a look at an area of North Carolina with which many aren't familiar—the inner islands. . . . Ann Cary Simpson's wonderful photos, and the maps add to the delight of this book.—Southern Pines Pilot

From the Publisher