Cape Cod is Thoreau's sunniest, happiest book. It bubbles over with jokes, puns, tall tales, and genial good humor... Unquestionably the best book that has ever been written about Cape Cod, and it is the model to which all new books about the Cape are still compared. -- Walter Harding The Days of Henry Thoreau

Robert Pinsky is Professor of English at Boston University and an editor of the weekly online magazine "Slate". He is the author of many books of poetry and literary criticism. He served two terms as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, 1997-2000.

Introduction by Robert Pinsky ix I. The Shipwreck 3 II. Stage-Coach Views 15 III. The Plains of Nauset 24 IV. The Beach 44 V. The Wellfleet Oysterman 62 VI. The Beach Again 80 VII. Across the Cape 101 VIII. The Highland Light 118 IX. The Sea and the Desert 139 X. Provincetown 167 Index 217