Islands at Edge of Time, C!

The United States has some 2700 miles of barrier islands stretching from Texas to Maine. Hansen, a contributor to regional magazines ( Texas Monthly , Yankee ), explores some of these islands, starting at Boca Chico in Texas and ending on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. His journey is informative and evocative; he describes the geology of barrier islands and recounts major hurricanes that have battered them. Hansen visits Padre Island in Texas, the Delta Islands of Louisiana where the land is sinking, Dauphin and Horn Islands in Mississippi. He looks at development on Hilton Head and St. Helena in South Carolina (there is a poignant piece about tax auctions of land), then goes to Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks. He wraps up a captivating journey with an account of the ``bankers,'' who have survived storms but face an uncertain future with rapid development of the islands. Illustrated. (Oct.)