Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs, and the Chesapeake Bay

This book is a technical wonder of writing. The lyrical beauty of the prose gives it the flow and cadence of poetry but with the straightforward phrasing of journalism. It should be required reading for college literature majors everywhere. I was first exposed to Beautiful Swimmers when it showed up on my son's 9th grade English summer reading list. What a fortunate assignment for mom. I am in awe of Mr. Warner's skill in crafting spare yet well-thought phrasing that carefully blends the unique local language with technical terminology. You read this book and forget that it is non-fiction, nature writing. It draws you in like a compelling fictional account. Therein lies the success of the book.Beautiful Swimmers covers the crabbing industry and the impact of this lovely crustacean on the Bay and its economy - a worthy journalistic endeavor. But for me, the real beauty is in the joy of just reading this charming work.

As a kid in Marblehead, Mass. I liked to catch crabs off the rocks. When I grew up a bit, I learned to eat them too---a very succulent food that I still love. But, I must confess that I never thought of reading books about them until one day I ran across William Warner's BEAUTIFUL SWIMMERS in a college bookshop. This wonderful work contains all you ever wanted to know about the life cycle of one particular kind of crab that lives in Chesapeake Bay (the kind you probably smashed with mallets if you ever went to that area). Surprisingly, for most of its life, the Atlantic blue crab has nothing to do with beer. Taking it for a focus, Warner draws connections with the sea, the rivers, the crab-friendly environment that produced such a wealth of the creatures, and then the people who live from that wealth, the islanders who lived isolated for centuries, but are now firmly within the web of modern life. Warner tells of the marketing of crabs, the catching of other Chesapeake products like oysters, and even of festivals like a Miss Crustacean contest ! You can learn about esoterica like crab pots, the Waterman's Union, the religious heritage of crabbers, and lots more. My edition came with a number of excellent pencil drawings of crabs, crabbers, and maritime scenes from the area. I was disappointed by only one thing----reaching the end of this great book.

I left my last copy of this book on an airline, where I was re-reading it for probably the tenth time, and am once more at this site to purchase a bunch more copies, for myself and as gifts to friends. This is a magnificent naturalist book, for anyone who has ever eaten a blue crab, caught one (they are smart and dumb at the same time, getting immersed in their eating the bait that they don't see your net, but brilliant escape artists the moment they focus on their peril), spent time anywhere along the Chesapeake, wondered about the lives of fishermen, or the cycles of the sea.

I have treasured this book that was a gift from my late grandmother who was a native of Norfolk, Virginia and lived along the Chesapeake Bay during her entire life. Beautiful Swimmers is one of the finest books in my library. I have both a hardbound and softcover copy. This book brings "The Bay" to life in a very rich and abundant way. Warner has accomplished a perspective that places you comfortably among the waterman and the life of the Chesapeake Bay. Having grown up in coastal Virginia, this book allowed me to gently return to my childhood and my times spent in pursuit of blue crabs to sell to neighbors for pocket money and for my family's dinner table. A fine read! I highly recommend this book.

I discovered this book on my brothers bookshelf while visiting the Eastern shore, and read it in two sittings. An absolutely fascinating book on the Bay, the Eastern shore, the blue crab and more. William W. Warner's gifted prose depicts the watermen and their life in a way that is both honest,sympathetic and informative. As a non-native Washingtonian, this book finally explains so many of the mysteries of the bay -- from soft shell crab and how/why they get that way --to Tangier Island and how/why it became so popular. It is the kind of book you immediately want to share with your friends... your family... your lunch bunch... the guy sitting next to you on the subway..