In the opening pages of Moby Dick, Herman Melville called New Bedford, Massachusetts, the dearest place to live in, in all of New England. But the old fishing port and manufacturing center-once one of the richest cities in New England-has withered in the modern economy. Its once-prosperous fishermen now struggle with government regulations and fished-out seas, while its empty factories now offer more work to the Fire Department than anyone else.

In Down at the Docks, Rory Nugent tells the riches to rags story of this iconic American town through beautifully told and unsentimental portraits of its residents. Their lives inform a eulogy to the distinctive ideas, traditions, and culture that is about to disappear from the waterfront.