With all the book talk lately, I thought I would share one of my favs from Ron Gilson.
Readers of An Island No More will immediately recognize this memoir as no routine historical account of Gloucester. It is a deeply moving essay of an author’s experience of the fishing industry as it affected the everyday life of its citizens. Gilson transports the reader into decades that cover depression, war, prosperity and, finally, decline. Gilson’s story is a poignant personal insight into many vignettes of the characters which fill his historical account. Using the fishing industry as a metaphor for life, Gilson reveals the life of a city over four decades. This historical approach is the strength of his work. Only a native of Gloucester could have written such a memoir.
As I read Gilson’s history, having been away from my home- town over fifty years, I was immediately taken back into time. Gilson’s account rings with such an authenticity, a virtual new experience of that time and place came back to me. In short, this history will engage the reader at all levels of emotion.
Dr. Richard J. Elliott
Professor Emeritus
University of New Orleans
Good Morning Gloucester 
Ron came by the dock this morning. I have three videos in which Ron talks about the fishing industry in the 40s to edit. Outstanding stuff.
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