The bittersweet message of this volume is at once Robert Cushman Murphy’s celebration of the magnificent environment and history of Long Island that inspired him; a chronicle of man’s destructive tendencies as they found focus on this sandy strand; and a gentle warning to change our ways. Although it weaves history and natural history into a time-sequenced story, this is not just a book about the past. Its broad scope still provides a Rosetta Stone enabling all who would know to decipher the hieroglyphics of ecology. The relationship between nature and humans will continue to be of paramount importance to this earth, and both sides of the equation will continue to benefit from the quiet message of this book. Illustrations.