Land’s End

A Haunting and Beautiful Ode to Provincetown, Cape Cod’s Outermost Town

In Land’s End, Michael Cunningham offers a magnificent and eloquent exploration of Provincetown, Massachusetts. This slender companion is perfect for a journey to the sandy, tide-washed tip of Cape Cod, offering enriching insights and an enjoyable read.

Cunningham rambles through Provincetown, gracefully exploring the unusual geography, contrasting seasons, long history, and rich stew of gay and straight, Yankee and Portuguese, old-timer and “washashore” that flavors this unique town. Chock-full of luminous descriptions, he captures its studied theatricality, ever-encroaching gentrification, and physical fragility with aplomb.

Highly evocative and honest, Land’s End takes you there, as Cunningham crafts finely wrought sentences and poetic images that vividly depict both the mundanities of the A&P and Provincetown’s magical shadows and light. A homage to this “city of sand,” the book is a must-read for anyone who has visited or dreams of experiencing the captivating allure of Provincetown.