(FORTUNE Magazine) – Paul Schneider's The Enduring Shore: A History of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket (Henry Holt) describes a place that bears almost no resemblance to the one where I've spent summers for decades. It contains no references to afternoons baking in the sun, ferry rides, cookouts, or double dips at the Dairy Queen. Schneider has focused instead on the early settlers, the whaling industry of the 19th century, and the topography of the coastline. His love of minutiae (a Pilgrim cured the great Wampanoag leader Massasoit's constipation with chicken soup) is contagious, but much is missing--the 20th century, for instance. There's no mention of the military base during World War II, the sinking of the Andrea Doria ocean liner in Nantucket Sound (the worst such disaster since the Titanic), or the art colony and gay community of Provincetown. Schneider is at his best in the chapters where, as he kayaks around the islands, he shares his wry observations on passing seals and summer tourists. He has much to say about the "seasonal Valhalla," and I hope his next book will pick up where this one leaves off.

--MARGARET FELDSTEIN