Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America - Couverture rigide

Dolin, Eric Jay

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0393060578 ISBN 13 : 9780393060577

Editeur : WW Norton & Co, 2007

Synopsis

Leviathan Few things can capture the danger and desperation of men at sea as dramatically as whaling. This title discusses about Captain John Smith's expedition to the New World in 1614. It chronicles the rise of a burgeoning industry, to its golden age when a fleet of more than 700 ships hunted the seas and its decline as the twentieth century dawned.

A propos du livre

Revue de presse :

"I thought I learned everything I needed to know about whaling from Melville, but I was wrong. Eric Jay Dolin's Leviathan exposes the rise and fall of the industry inspired by the great beasts of the deep . . . The excitement of the stories in this magnificently researched saga build and build." (Dava Sobel, Author of Longitude)

"A pleasantly anecdotal history of American whaling so comprehensive that he seems to have harpooned at least one fact from every cetacean text ever printed. Leviathan is a gentle book about a brutal industry." (Caleb Crain, The New Yorker)

"Leviathan will appeal most to history buffs and ocean lovers. . . . Exotic locations, colorful characters, melodrama and gore aplenty, but also food for thought." (Debby Applegate, Los Angeles Times)

"This volume reads like a history of America through whaling. . . . With a historian's diligence and a trivia nuts eye for oddities. He reels in the big one." (Troy Patterson, Entertainment Weekly)

" ...perfect summer reading, especially if you happen to be spending the summer by the sea, or on it. (Adam Kirsch - New York Sun )

Leviathan is an exhaustive, richly detailed history of industrial American whaling...Dolin succeeds admirably at what he sets out to do: tell the story of one of the strangest industries in American history. (Bruce Barcott - New York Times )

Eric Jay Dolin's lively and thorough history spans the rise, golden age, and decline of what was once one of New England's distinctive industries...Dolin chose to take on the subject in its broadest form, and if he leaves us wanting more, that is what good history does. (David Waldstreicher - The Boston Globe )

Starred Review. Engrossing account...at once grand and quirky, entertaining and informative. (Publishers Weekly )

Mr. Dolin handles this long, complex tale with great skill, both as a historian and as a writer (the bibliography and illustrations are splended too)...Leviathan is thoroughly engaging. --(John Steele Gordon - The Wall Street Journal )

Présentation de l'éditeur :

A Los Angeles Times Best Non-Fiction Book of 2007
A Boston Globe Best Non-Fiction Book of 2007
Amazon.com Editors pick as one of the 10 best history books of 2007
Winner of the 2007 John Lyman Award for U. S. Maritime History, given by the North American Society for Oceanic History

"The best history of American whaling to come along in a generation." Nathaniel Philbrick

The epic history of the "iron men in wooden boats" who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales. "To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme," Herman Melville proclaimed, and this absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. Eric Jay Dolin begins his vivid narrative with Captain John Smith's botched whaling expedition to the New World in 1614. He then chronicles the rise of a burgeoning industry from its brutal struggles during the Revolutionary period to its golden age in the mid-1800s when a fleet of more than 700 ships hunted the seas and American whale oil lit the world, to its decline as the twentieth century dawned. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs. Containing a wealth of naturalistic detail on whales, Leviathan is the most original and stirring history of American whaling in many decades. 32 pages of illustrations.

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: WW Norton & Co
• Date d'édition: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0393060578
• ISBN 13: 9780393060577
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 512