"Long Island is a place with a rich maritime heritage. From the small coastal trade vessels and fishing boats of the American colonists, to the nineteenth century whaling ships, clippers, and steamships, to today's impressive freighters and supertankers, one thing is clear--ships help build Long Island into what it is today. Maritime industries clearly encouraged Long Island's economic development. In the nineteenth century, as the amount of available land for new farms began to grow smaller, men increasingly turned to the sea to earn a living and successful merchants eagerly looked for new investment opportunities. Shipbuilding and coastal trading grew, and whalemen brought new wealth to Long Island communities." --From the Introduction by Joshua Stoff

Author
Joshua Stoff is the Curator of Nassau County's Cradle of Aviation Museum on Mitchel Field in Garden City. He has written several books on aviation including two books published under the auspices of the Long Island Studies Institute, From Airship to Spaceship: Long Island in Aviation and Spaceflight (also for younger readers), and The Aerospace Heritage of Long Island.

Publication and Ordering Information
From Canoes to Cruisers has 112 pages, more than 40 illustrations, and an index. It is $10 in paperback (ISBN 1-55787-074-8) and $18 in hard cover (1-55787-075-6); LC 93-40844. It features detailed line drawings in every chapter, supplemented by period engravings (the Contents indicates topics). The book is published by Empire State Books under the auspices of Hofstra University. Mail orders will be filled by: the publisher, Empire State Books/Heart of the Lakes Publishing, P.O. Box 299, Interlaken, NY 14847 (e-mail: HLPbooks@aol.com, phone 607-532-4997, or fax 607-532-4684); the Weathervane Shop of the Suffolk County Historical Society, 300 West Main Street, Riverhead, NY 11901 (histsoc@suffolk.lib.ny.us; 631-727-2881, fax 631-727-3467); and the Long Island Studies Institute (for libraries, museums, schools, and bookstores). It is also available at the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum (631-367-3418). To order or for further information, contact the Long Island Studies Institute, Hofstra University West Campus, 619 Fulton Avenue, Hempstead NY 11549; e-mail, LISI@Hofstra.edu, phone (516) 463-6411, fax (516) 463-6441.

"Joshua Stoff, author of From Airship to Spaceship, has another Long Island winner. In mostly one page chapters enhanced by his own illustrations, he takes us through Long Island's rich maritime history from Indian canoes to modern powerboats. From Adriaen Block to pirating, whaling, steamboating as well as Long Island's role in times of war, this book is well-researched and filled with little-known facts. Written with fourth graders in mind (those Long Island assignments!) it will have universal appeal. Hopefully students will be motivated to expand their knowledge of Long Island by doing some of the suggested readings and visiting Long Island museums. Buy multiple copies of this prize--after all, it's your ISLAND!" --Mary Jane Genovese, Children's Librarian, East Meadow Public Library in Children's Services Book List, Nassau Library System (recommended for purchase).

"From Canoes to Cruisers covers a wide variety of sea-related activities including whaling, shell fishing, ship building, military enterprises, and the predominant type of activity today, pleasure boat sailing. The writing is strong and accurate and the text is supported by numerous illustrations. . . . Although the book is designed for younger readers, adults wishing a solid introduction to Long Island's maritime heritage will find Canoes to Cruisers informative." --Richard Welch, Editor, Long Island Forum, 57 (Fall 1994): 39.

"Joshua Stoff, author of several first-rate works on Long Island's role in the development of aviation, resents an equally absorbing survey of the region's maritime heritage. In a series of brief essays--beginning with an account of Indian exploitation of Long Island's waters and concluding with a present-day view of those same waters--he covers an impressive span of history in which a great quantity of detail does not interfere with meaningful generalizations. His essays discuss whaling, fishing, oystering, shipbuilding, shipwrecks, steamships, wars. He concludes with the pessimistic observation that Long Island sound has been subjected to the insults of sewage and industrial toxins and with the optimistic observation that Long Island waters are as busy as ever and that measures are being taken to restore the quality of the waters." --Wendell Tripp, Editor, New York History, 79 (January 1998): 94.

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