Live Oaking: Southern Timber for Tall Ships

Live Oaking: Southern Timber for Tall Ships by Wood, Virginia Steele. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9781557509338.

A delightful historical review of a rather obscure topic, "live oaking," the term used by craftsmen who harvested the oaks of the South in order to build the great tall ships like the USS Constitution. Wood (reference specialist in naval and maritime history, Library of Congress) applies political, social, and economic commentary to the chronicle of life in the rather grim timber camps and to the industry which decimated this natural resource. The volume is beautifully illustrated with line drawings, maps, and reproductions from newspapers accounts, and includes excerpts from letters written by the "live oakers" to their loved ones in the North. Originally published in 1981 under the same title by Northeastern University Press. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.