Hatteras Blues - by Tom Carlson (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Tom Carlson tells the story of Ernal Foster and the Foster family of Hatteras Village, who gave birth to what would become the multi-million dollar charter fishing industry on the Outer Banks. Today, Ernal's son, Captain Ernie Foster, struggles to keep the family business alive in a time of great change on the Banks. Within the engaging saga of the rise and decline of one family's livelihood, Carlson relates the history and transformation of Hatteras Village and the high-adrenaline experience of blue-water sportfishing and the industry that surrounds it. Hatteras Blues is their story -- a story of triumph and loss, of sturdy Calvinist values and pell-mell American progress, and of fate and luck as capricious as the weather.

Review Quotes

"Hatteras Blues deserves to be read, reread, discussed, taught, written about, reprinted, and otherwise kept alive--for its sake and ours. Without exaggeration, this book deserves a permanent place in the . . . company of Thoreau's Cape Cod, Beston's The Outermost House, and Maclean's A River Runs Through It. It deserves to become a classic."--North Carolina Literary Review

"Hatteras Blues is first-class, enjoyable reading for any fisherman needing a good yarn, based on real-life experiences on the boat and off. . . . This is one of the best new fishing books of the year."--The Fisherman

"Hatteras Blues weaves together information about the history of the Outer Banks and the fishing there as well as such related topics as geology, hurricanes, lifesaving, and lighthouses. His sketches of the Fosters and others capture the wit, character, and bravery of Hatteras people in a manner that is intimate and insightful without being intrusive."--Booklist

"Beautifully written. . . . Readers will be glad Carlson chose to tell this tale of the blues, what some call progress, and how and why we should all continue living life on the edge."--Our State

"Does this great sport fishery justice. If you love the Banks--the real Banks from Oregon Inlet to Ocracoke--you will love this book."--Gray's Sporting Journal

"Poignant. . . . Carlson manages to capture quite well the life and times and independent spirit of the Hatteras watermen and their threatened existence."--Island Breeze

"Simply one of the best books written about cultural change on the Outer Banks."--Roanoke Times

"The book takes us through moments of wonder and sorrow, fear and comedy, to a triumph of the human spirit.". . . . [A] handsomely made and compellingly written book."--News & Observer

"To say Hatteras Blues is just a fish story would be akin to claiming that The Old Man and the Sea is about a boat ride in the Gulf Stream."--Courier-Journal

"Will appeal to anyone who realizes just how cool the Outer Banks and its people are. . . . Carlson does an admirable job of preserving a good bit more of the Hatteras character. And of telling us something about fishing--and loss."--Winston-Salem Journal