Below is a listing of the best lighthouse books from an accuracy level both technical and historical.
The World’s Lighthouses before 1820 – D. Alan Stevenson (John Hopkins Press)
Everything there is to know about a lighthouse before the Fresnel lens
The Lighthouse Stevensons – Bell Bathurst
The story of the five Stevenson generations and their contributions to lighthouses.
America’s Lighthouses – F. Ross Holland
A very broad brush of the history of American Lighthouses – some errors
Lighthouses of New England – Malcolm Willoughby
1929 an accurate work
Famous American Lighthouses – Northeast Lights – Robert Bachand
History of lighthouses from Rhode Island to Cape May, NJ, well researched.
Kindly Lights – Southern New England LHs Sarah Gleason
A brief history of lighthouses of the region, well researched.
Any book by Candace and Louise Clifford (well researched) (Cypress Communications)
- The Women Who Kept the Lights (human interest)
- 19th Century Lighthouses (evolution of 19th cen. Architecture w/brief history)
- Maine Lighthouses
Lighthouses & Lightships of the Gulf of Mexico – David Cipra
Well researched and the only work on the region.
Any book by Elinor DeWire (Florida Lighthouses, etc)
Guardians of the Golden Gate & Lighthouses of the Redwood Coast
Both by Ralph Shanks – Lighthouses of San Francisco Bay and those north of the Bay. Some errors
Famous American Lighthouses – Edward Rowe Snow
Fairly accurate
“Flavor of the Bean” human-interest books
- Island Lighthouse Inn – Jeffery Burke
- Lighthouse in My Life – Philmore Wass
- Lighthouse Families – Cheryl Roberts (Crane Hill Publishers)
A Short Bright Flash – Theresa Levitt (W. W. Norton)
Excellent work on Augustin Fresnel and broad brush on the Lighthouse Service in America
The Lighthouse Handbook of New England – Jeremy D’Entremont
Excellent guide with accurate history