Overview

Abandoned Coastal Defenses of Alabama is a down-and-dirty guided tour through Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines, the retired guardians of Alabama's Gulf Coast. For nearly 200 years, these hauntingly beautiful Third System forts have stood stubbornly between the Yellowhammer State and a sometimes hostile world beyond. Pairing stunning original photography and vibrant prose, urban explorer Thomas Kenning recounts a blow-by-blow history of Forts Morgan and Gaines. His sensitive camera work documents the grandeur and decline wrought by the passage of time, as well as the lasting damage sustained during the pitched Battle of Mobile Bay--one of the most iconic battles in U.S. naval history. Threatened by a rising sea, disintegrating under the weight of centuries, Forts Morgan and Gaines have been named one of the nation's ten most endangered battle sites by the American Battlefield Trust. Abandoned Coastal Defenses of Alabama offers an arresting snapshot of this waning moment in American history--documentary evidence of a rich past slipping inexorably into ruin.

Full Product Details

9781634992831

Table of Contents

Reviews

A visitor to these fortress museums would be well served to read this book. You can see and understand the planning and use of the bastions with numerous clear, helpful photos. Most important, however, is Kenning's clear humanity. His entreaties to consider the dread history are exceptionally well wrought. Yet his laments that like all wars, the vast expenses lavished on such monstrosities based on fear, could have been spent elsewhere, perhaps to preclude their need in the first place. Decatur Daily

Author Information

THOMAS KENNING is an author, educator, and adventurer. He holds an MA in history from American University in Washington, D.C., and teaches the subject in St. Petersburg, Florida. As a writer and photographer, he is passionate about documenting the stunning ecosystems and vibrant history of the Gulf Coast. When he is not travelling to some far-flung corner of the Earth, Thomas resides with his wife and daughter--doing his best to leave the planet a little bit nicer than he found it.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available