WRITING THIS BOOK has been an exercise in humility and gratitude the likes of which I had never before imagined, let alone experienced. I could not have done it without the support and work of many, many people—family members, friends, colleagues, historians, reporters, authors, marine biologists, archaeologists, ranchers, oyster farmers, strangers, librarians, people on Twitter, food writers, politicians and one nineteenth-century sea captain kind enough to leave behind a detailed account of his life.
Before anyone else, I want to extend my profound gratitude to Megan and Tom Ryan, handsdown the most generous people I have ever encountered, for giving me a room of my own (and pizza) when I needed it most.
Many thanks to my agent Elizabeth Evans for taking an interest in me and in this book, and for all the patience and guidance she provided along the way. She and everyone else at the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency were a godsend. I am also eternally grateful to my esteemed editor, Jack Shoemaker, and the wonderful staff at Counterpoint Press, including Sharon Wu, Claire Shalinksy, Corinne Kalasky and Kelly Winton.
Special thanks to the dynamite staff of the California Room at the Marin County Civic Center Library for their help and interest (and one ride home!), especially co-sleuths Carol Acquaviva, Laurie Thompson and Dave Williams. Special thanks also to the patient archivists at the magical and thrilling UC Berkeley Bancroft Library; I’ll never forget the days I spent in your bright reading room and darkened microfilm cubicles, or eating sandwiches on the grass outside while pondering what I’d just discovered. Thanks as well to the staff of the New York Historical Society, even though the name of a certain strapping sailor remains a mystery.
Writing this book would have been absolutely impossible were it not for the wealth of primary research carried out by other people about California, West Marin, and the Drakes Bay Oyster Company controversy. For details about the Point Reyes area and its denizens, I am particularly indebted to the work of writer Jacoba Charles, whose ear for poetic and emotional detail in her journalism and radio stories proved indispensable. Equally vital were the comprehensive texts of historians Dewey Livingston and Carola DeRooy. Other writing about Point Reyes that provided key details, insight and inspiration came from Jules Evens and Paul Sadin, as well as late authors Laura Nelson Baker and Arthur Quinn. I also received assistance and advice from local West Marin publishers and journalists George Clyde, Mark Dowie, Matt Gallagher, Jim Kravets, Steve Quirt, Linda Peterson, Mary Olsen, Robin Carpenter and the late and much-missed David Bunnett. Although we interacted less directly, I would be remiss not to thank former Point Reyes Light editors Robert Plotkin and David Mitchell. Thanks as well to other journalists, both local and national, who covered the issues examined in this book, and whose work I reference or mined for clues, particularly: Michael Ames, Lynn Axelrod, Linda Berlin, Jeremy Blackman, P.J. Bremier, Lander Burr, Julie Cart, Kyle Cashulin, Andrew DeFeo, Jim Doyle, Peter Fimrite, Robert Gammon, John Hulls, Peter Jamison, Debra Kahn, Leslie Kaufman, Sasha Khokha, Samantha Kimmey, Amy Littlefield, Justin Nobel, Kelly O’Mara, Christopher Peak, Paul Peterzell, Jeannette Pontacq, Mark Prado, James Salzman, Marian Schinske, Maura Thurman, Wes Venteicher, Thomas Yeatts and others. (Although I must note that acknowledgment does not necessarily equal an endorsement of editorial stance, in either direction.) I am also very grateful to Calin Van Paris, who worked as a stringer for me and contributed reporting for chapters eleven and fifteen, and whose detailed notes pretty much saved my assets. This book also benefited greatly from my reading of several germane works, especially The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell by Mark Kurlansky and A Rage for Justice: The Passion and Politics of Phillip Burton by John Jacobs.
This book is about real people, some of whom graciously granted me interviews while others did not. I am immensely grateful to all of them, since those who would not speak to me still managed to put their versions of events out into the public sphere in one way or another. It is regrettable that Kevin Lunny stopped responding to my emails and phone calls after 2013, but I am grateful for what he shared with me before that time, and for being so vocal about his motivations, feelings and beliefs in other media at every stage of the conflict.
I am grateful as well to Corey Goodman for his early encouragement that I write a book about this issue, and for being so generous with his time and words, even if we ultimately didn’t agree on what the “story of the story” turned out to be. Thanks as well to oyster farm advocates David Weiman, Peter Prows, Sarah Rolph, Jane Gyorgi and Peggy Day for their input. Sarah Rolph in particular was kind enough to debate the issue with me at length over email at the eleventh hour, with Kevin Lunny cc’ed throughout. Others who did not grant me interviews or comment included Amy Trainer, Tom Baty, Don Neubacher and Gordon Bennett. I am grateful for their public input on the matter, regardless.
Thanks as well to Steve Kinsey for his kind verification of quotes attributed to him by a third party, and for his long dedication to the community I hold dear. Extra special thanks to the estimable congressman Pete McCloskey and his beautiful wife, Helen.
I’m also grateful to Tess Elliott, editor of the Point Reyes Light, for suggesting I try small-town reporting full time (even if, during the course of said reporting, we didn’t always see eye to eye). Many sincere thanks as well to the talented Light staff members I worked alongside, especially photographer David Briggs and intern Shane Scott.
I could not have written this book without the input and support of Fred Smith, who kept talking to me even when we disagreed about the topic at hand. He consistently showed remarkable compassion for everyone involved, even those who would consider themselves his opponents. (Fred: I’ll keep the needs of the seagulls in mind if you spare a thought for the crabs.) I am especially grateful to longtime Point Reyes rancher Joseph Mendoza Jr., a thoroughly honorable man with an impressive family legacy, which I hope I was able to do justice to in these pages. Long may his family’s cows graze. I am also forever grateful to Burr Heneman for allowing me to interview him about the Point Reyes Bird Observatory (now called Point Blue Conservation Science) and for helping me to fact-check parts of the manuscript. I am also very grateful to Greg Sarris for making time to speak with me, and for sharing his stories. Many thanks as well to Sarah Allen for her kind and helpful feedback on chapter two and on harbor seals generally, as well as her current work on climate change and marine debris. Thanks also to Point Reyes National Seashore staff members Melanie Gunn, Cicely Muldoon, John Dell’Osso, Ben Becker, Dave Press and others for always being courteous and as informative as duty permitted. Many thanks as well to Tim Ragen, former Executive Director of the Marine Mammal Commission, for his input in 2012. I am also particularly grateful to scientists Steven D. Emslie, McCrea Cobb and Ellen Hines for speaking to me about their respective areas of expertise.
Many people in West Marin provided invaluable support, leads or just a reason to smile—more than I could possibly mention here. I will surely miss some vital person in my attempt to list their names. I do however especially want to thank Donna Sheehan and Paul Reffell, the most beautiful couple I’ve ever met, for their love, nourishment, the loan of a Westfalia camper van, and a number of very nice breakfasts. (Between first writing these acknowledgments and turning them in, our lovely Donna passed peacefully from this life. So I will take this opportunity to send my love to Paul, and to Donna I will say this: Donna! Thank you! I love you! I promise I will work to do good things in your memory and remember that “the giving is the getting.”) I am also grateful to another wise couple, booksellers Steve Costa and Kate Levinson of Point Reyes Books, for creating and maintaining one of the loveliest bookstores in the world. Many thanks to my friend Alex Fradkin, fellow Brooklynite with West Marin roots, for being especially heroic at key points. I am likewise very grateful to everyone who chatted with me about local issues at the Blackbird Café, Pine Cone Diner, Vladimir’s Czechoslovakian Restaurant, Station House Café, Old Western Saloon, Saltwater Oyster Depot, Bovine Bakery, Nick’s Cove and other hangouts. The kindness and/or helpfulness of Christian Anthony, Alden Bevington, Eden Canon, Luc Chamberland, Donna Clavaud, Matt Cuyler, John Eleby, Burton Eubank, Paul Fenn, Ken Fox, Chris Kennedy, Marc Matheson, Matt McCloskey, June McCrory, Michael Mery, Hugo Soto Perez, Julia Peters, Alex Porrata, Jude Robinson, the Smith brothers, Brian Tatta, Sim Van der Ryn, Nick Whitney, Joel Whitney, Xerxes Whitney and Elizabeth Whitney is particularly noted.
I was sustained in my research through the generous contributions of eighty-one people via the crowdfunding site Indiegogo, including friends, colleagues, Twitter buddies and complete strangers. We raised $3,541, without which my research and writing would have ceased, and you would not now be holding this book in your hands. It may not seem like much, but it made an important difference. This cannot be overstated. Thank you.
Although I started working on this project in the spring of 2012, it would never have come to light were it not for the generous guidance in 2013 of poet, Chelsea Green editor and fellow Bennington College alum Michael Metivier, who helped me with early drafts of the first chapter and the proposal. Thanks as well to another Bennington alum, Jim Cairl, for free emergency computer repair on his lunch hour when the need for it was most dire. Thanks to David Pearsall for reading my first draft of chapter one and giving honest feedback.
I also want to thank friends and United Nations colleagues Radmilla Suleymanova and Melissa Gorelick, for our time spent in international territory and out of it. Also at the UN, I am very much indebted to both my longtime editor Beth Flanders, and mercifully understanding administrator Emelie Hellborg. I am grateful to all of my Press Office colleagues past and present, but especially to Doug Hand, Omar Musni, Chris Cycmanick and Christiaan Lampinen. I must also extend my heartfelt gratitude to our francophone counterparts Aurelian Colly, Jean-Eric Boulin, Fabrice Robinet, Eric Wastiaux, Diophante Tomo, Nadia Sraieb-Koepp and the rest of the gang, especially for suggesting that I take a break for lunch once in a while. Extra thanks to UN colleague and former partner on the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, the talented Shahnaz Habib, for her much-needed encouragement in the autumn of 2013 and for putting me up for a few crucial nights in March of 2012. Much gratitude to Anna Shen and Dorothea Senechal for similar reasons. Thanks as well to Farsan Ghassim (aka the R of H) for reminding me about adventure, and for his willingness to be the first line of defense against terrifying phantom creatures in the Mexican jungle.
If you’ll indulge me some additional personal expressions of gratitude, I also wish to thank some of the teachers who encouraged me over the years in one way or another, including Susannah Woods, David g. Smith, Sheila Girton, Mary Oliver, Gladden Schrock, Ann Pibal, Carol Diehl, Temple Smith, Carol Wilson and Deborah Chamberlin-Taylor. I’ll also thank Catherine Stapleton, a teacher of sorts, who put me back together at the darkest point of the year.
(Weirdly sincere thanks also to whoever set up the live web cams at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Monterey Bay Aquarium generally, David Tennant, Catherine Tate, Russell T. Davies, Stars of the Lid, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Trevor Corson, Rebecca Solnit, Zadie Smith, Susan Orlean, Carl Safina, Erik Larson, the Haribo confectionery company, the focus booth on the 15th floor of the United Nations, whoever towed my car last year, and K. Also, one more person. You know who you are, and why.)
Additionally, there are a few friends who did not have much to do with the creation of this book, but whom I will thank anyway, out of love. They are Elena Odessa Ray (née Schmidt), Brianna Young, Sanam Hasan, Jasmine Balgobin and Jasmine Hamedi. No matter how far we may drift in the world, your names are always written on my heart.
And finally, my family. Dear reader: If, in the late 1980s, you happened to see a gawky nine-year-old refusing to leave the Shadow Room at the San Francisco Exploratorium, or begging to stay for just one more night/day cycle of the watering hole diorama in the Tusher African Hall at the California Academy of Sciences, that was probably me. This book has been dedicated to my father, Patrick Brennan, for many reasons, but especially for taking me to aquariums and science museums so often as a child. (And for chocolate pudding in blue mugs, and Graceland, and The Lord of the Rings, and for trying to become a Whovian, and, and, and . . .) It is also for the rest of my family. To my mother, Victoria Bloom, who was strong enough to fight history and win, and whose laugh is better than anyone’s. To my sister Lea: for Meatloaf, that time she thought there was a goblin in her room, my nieces, and the world’s ugliest car. To my brother Zachary: for flower crowns and Winnie the Pooh. To my nieces June and Sienna, who are precious unicorn babies, and to Stefan Ritter, their devoted Papa. To my aunt Melody, fellow creative spirit, with love. Thanks also to Dan Carr, stepdad extraordinaire, for reading a draft of an early chapter, and for the repeated loan of an automobile so that I could get out in nature for inspiration to write the next one.
Thank you all.