In Depth

Recommended Books, Films & Music

Any recommended reading list for the Cape and islands starts with the classic Cape Cod by Henry David Thoreau. The famous author traveled to Cape Cod from 1849 to 1857, riding the stagecoach from Boston to Orleans and then walking from Eastham to Provincetown.

Another classic book of the region is The Outermost House by Henry Beston, which tells the story of the author's year living in a cabin on the beach in Eastham, recording the seasonal changes.

For good beach reading, Cape Cod by William Martin is an entertaining novel with a lot of history thrown in by a best-selling author.

There's also The Great Beach by John Hay, a naturalist's history of Cape Cod.

For art lovers, Time and the Town: A Provincetown Chronicle by Mary Heaton Vorse is the classic history of the town on the Cape's tip in the early part of the 20th century.

Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890 by Nathaniel Philbrick gives a comprehensive and entertaining history of the island.

Mostly on Martha's Vineyard by Henry Beetle Hough is the entertaining autobiography by the longtime editor of the Vineyard Gazette.

Perhaps my favorite overview of Cape Cod literature can be found in Cape Cod Stories, edited by John Miller and Tim Smith, with selections by 26 top writers from Herman Melville to Norman Mailer.