Bill Bleyer: 5 books

Although no battles were fought on Long Island, the Civil War deeply affected all of its residents. More than three thousand men--white and black--from current-day Queens, Nassau and Suffolk Counties answered the call to preserve the Union. While Confederate ships lurked within eight miles of Montauk...

The first Fire Island Lighthouse was constructed in 1826 after numerous shipwrecks along the barrier island. A replacement tower built in 1858 incorporated innovations in lighthouse design such as the Fresnel lens. Vessels anchored offshore, known as lightships, augmented the lighthouse for many years....

No house better reflects the personality and interests of its owner than Theodore Roosevelt's cherished Sagamore Hill. After Roosevelt returned to Oyster Bay following the death of both his beloved wife and mother, he and his second wife, Edith, made the house a home for their growing and rambunctious...

For more than five centuries, the waterways surrounding Long Island have profoundly shaped its history. Familiar subjects of lighthouses, shipwrecks and whaling are found alongside oft-forgotten history such as Pan-American flying boats landing in Manhasset Bay in the early days of transatlantic flight....

Sharks are not evil. But they're single-minded and very, very hungry. On land, they take the form of bosses, businesspeople, colleagues, family, and sociopathic neighbors. In the world of former governor of New Mexico and US ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson, they have taken the form...