Maine ─ The Wilder Half of New England

This concise, solid, and surprising overview traces 500 years of Maine history, from first contact between Native Americans and European explorers to the achievement of a Down East identity, national political power, and worldwide cultural identification.Illustrated with well over 200 images drawn from the collections of the Maine Historical Society, the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Special Collections at the Portland Public Library, the Maine State Museum, local historical societies, private collections, and even the Vatican, these pages contain many rare and fascinating drawings, paintings, and photographs. The bibliography is a rich resource for exploring Maine history further.

William David Barry, historian, writer, exhibition curator, and native New Englander, has written or co-authored books with a local focus ranging in topic from the Colonial mast trade, to the care of orphans in Maine institutions, L.L. Bean, Inc., the early HIV/AIDS crisis in Maine, and the “lost” city of Deering, Maine. In 1983 he collaborated with life-long friend Randolph Dominic on the historical novel Pyrrhus Venture (Atlantic Monthly–Little Brown). He has written essays and reviews for Down East Magazine, Portland Magazine, Magazine Antiques, Art New England, and the Maine Sunday Telegram, and guest-curated over a dozen exhibitions for organizations including the University of Southern Maine, New Hampshire Historical Society, Barridoff Galleries, and the Brick Store Museum. In his spare time he co-authored monographs of architectural interest for the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and of business successes for the Newcomen Society. In 2005 the Trustees of the Maine Historical Society awarded Barry the prestigious Neal Allen, Jr., Award “for outstanding contributions to the field of Maine history.” In tandem with his freelance career Barry has worked as a reference librarian at the Portland Public Library and since 1994 at the Maine Historical Society's Brown Library.