For as long as I can remember, most every bit of American history I’ve ever read has in one way or another led back to the Chesapeake Bay. Which makes it rather unfortunate that, like many life-long westerners, I’ve never once set eyes upon it.

Fortunately, I’m getting quite an education in its history – both environmental and social – from reading an advance copy of Tom Pelton’s forthcoming The Chesapeake in Focus; Transforming the Natural World. Mr. Pelton, the host of the public radio program “The Environment in Focus” and director of communications for the Environmental Integrity Project, is proving himself particularly well-suited to telling the story of this remarkable and increasingly imperiled body of water.