Book excerpt: The most extraordinary collection of photos of any small town in the entire United States. Block Island, in the Atlantic Ocean off the south coast of New England, has a photographic history of 145 years. No other community could produce such an array of images from both land and sea. Volume 2 of The Block Island History of Photography adds more than 400 images to America’s history, from shipwrecks and lighthouses, steamboats and tourists, World Wars 1 & 2, Prohibition era fun, into hard times, through two strong hurricanes, and yet more fun. The earlier Volume 1, from 1870 to the 1910s, contains another 380 images. This is the face of quiet America most people missed — and most, once lived, would miss.