Showcasing the evocative artwork created by John Moll for this special edition, James A. Micheners The Watermen is a unique tribute to the adventurous seafarers of the Chesapeake Bay. Excerpted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning authors classic Chesapeake, this enthralling novel has a unity and a spirit all its own, telling the story of the bay and its wildlife, but especially of the watermen, from their favorite pastimes to their rivalries in hunting, oystering, racing, and fighting. Gorgeously illustrated, brilliantly conceived, The Watermen is a narrative and visual feast from one of Americas favorite storytellers. Praise for Chesapeake Another of James Micheners great mines of narrative, character and lore.--The Wall Street Journal A] marvelous panorama of history seen in the lives of symbolic people of the ages . . . an emotionally and intellectually appealing book.--The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Micheners most ambitious work of fiction in theme and scope.--The Philadelphia Inquirer Magnificently written . . . one of those rare novels that is enthusiastically passed from friend to friend.--Associated PressAbout the Author:James A. Michener was one of the worlds most popular writers, the author of more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tales of the South Pacific, the bestselling novels The Source, Hawaii, Alaska, Chesapeake, Centennial, Texas, Caribbean, and Caravans, and the memoir The World Is My Home. Michener served on the advisory council to NASA and the International Broadcast Board, which oversees the Voice of America. Among dozens of awards and honors, he received Americas highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1977, and an award from the Presidents Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 1983 for his commitment to art in America. Michener died in 1997 at the age of ninety.