Washington Post Articles

Last treasure of the Chesapeake

By Ken Ringle, Sunday, December 13, 2009, The Washington Post

"For those of us who love the Chesapeake -- and others merely curious -- the ultimate Bay sourcebook remains the late William W. Warner's wonderfully readable "Beautiful Swimmers," which chronicles the biology of the blue crab and the culture of the watermen who pursue them. Surprisingly, little has been written about the Bay's other edible treasure -- the Chesapeake oyster -- or about the sail-powered wooden workboats that harvested them for more than a century.

The skipjacks are all but vanished today. Last winter only a single one hoisted its sails, and its captain was 88 years old. But 10 years ago as the 20th century drew to a close, author Christopher White moved to Tilghman Island for two years to document the twilight of oystering under sail...

From the Washington Post's "Short Stack":

"John Lancaster's review of my new book on the 1967 Israeli attack on the American spy ship U.S.S. Liberty has stirred a lot of online debate - much of it heated - among Washington Post readers in recent days. One reader argued that the United States should retaliate and sink an Israeli ship and call it an accident. Another urged Congress to investigate. Others have criticized Israeli and American Middle East policy.

Some readers are equally passionate in their defense of Israel for what it has always maintained was a tragic accident. Many point out that Israel was a close American ally, involved in a hectic and fast-paced war in the desert and had everything to lose by attacking a U.S. ship. Both sides point to many of the same documents - though with differing interpretations - to hammer home their points. ... "

To read the rest of Scott's response, a href="http://voices...

Misguided Missiles

By John Lancaster Sunday, July 12, 2009, Washuington Post

"...  A new book, "The Attack on the Liberty," by James Scott, stops short of a final verdict on that charge. Still, after reading this comprehensive and compelling account, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Israel's actions were, at a minimum, criminally negligent -- and harder still to understand why no one in Israel was punished. For this, the United States also bears some of the blame. Drawing on newly declassified documents and interviews with survivors and former officials, Scott argues that the Johnson administration deliberately soft-pedaled the incident to avoid straining relations with an important Cold War ally and its American backers.

Scott, a South Carolina journalist, is the son of a Liberty survivor and has a good feel for life on board the converted World War...