Books by Coordinator Robert M. Thorson

Jetty at Newport, Rhode Island qualifies as a stone wall. Which book do you think explains this?

Robert Thorson has written three books on stone walls, each for a different audience. For details, click the book title or link to the left.

Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History of Stone Walls In New England.  (New York, Walker, 2002). 

• A-to-Z revisionist history of New England culture, told from the point of view of the stony soil, with plenty of history and literature.
• Winner of the 2003 Connecticut Book Award (nonfiction).
• 2002 NEBA Bestseller (New England Bookstore Association).

Exploring Stone Walls: A Field Guide to New England’s Stone Walls.   (New York, Walker, 2005).

• Soup-to-nuts field guide (armchair and outdoor) that will help the nature lover, property owner, and manager of land better understand, describe, date, and classify the stone walls and other ruins on their properties.
• The first ever field guide to stone walls, created to help give outdoor afficionados something else to study outdoors.   

Stone Wall Secrets. (co-authored by Kristine Thorson and illustrated by Gustav Moore: Gardiner Maine, Tilburyhouse Publishers, 1998).

• An illustrated children's book in which the hidden values of stone walls are explored by an Earth-wise old man and his adopted grandson.
• Smithsonian Notable Book for Children, 1998.
• Honor Book, Juvenile Category, Bookbuilders of Boston, 1998.