Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America
Posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
- ISBN13: 9780393331578
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
“The best history of American whaling to come along in a generation.”—Nathaniel Philbrick This “engrossing account … at once grand and quirky, entertaining and informative” (Publishers Weekly) delivers the fascinating 300-year history of American whaling, integrating literary, social, and economic history into an epic account of this once-vital industry. .
entirely too many footnotes which detract from the experience. Fine, I guess, if it’s documentation you want to read, but I just want a story.
Rating: 3 / 5
The beautiful artwork on the dustjacket made me pick up the book. Dolin is a skilled writer who knows how to tell a story. You won’t find any 10 cent words or flights into poetry. Just straightforward well-organized prose. In addition to the great dustjacket artwork, the skilled writing and meticulous researching, this Norton hardcover is nicely bound in quality material.
Rating: 5 / 5
This three hundred year saga of American whaling details one of the most significant industries of the New England coast. Along the way it captures the social and economic history of the nation through the triumphs and travails of this fascinating calling.
Starting with Captain John Smith’s failed whaling expedition to the New World in 1614, Eric Dolan traces the rise of this endeavor from its rapid expansion in the colonial era up and down the Eastern seaboard, to its golden era in the mid 1850’s when the sails of New England’s whale ships whitened every sea. Americans were preeminent at this vocation and American whale oil lit the homes and cities of the world, greased the gears of the Industrial Revolution and shaped the course of feminine fashion. It produced amazingly brilliant candles and gave perfumes great staying power.
Leviathan is studded with fascinating vignettes while it traces the rise and fall of various whaling towns and industrialists. It is a most remarkable account of a fascinating, once vital, and by gone era in American history.
Rating: 3 / 5
The promos for this book suggested that it focused on how whaling affected U.S. history, particularly major events like the Revolutionary War. It does this, although this is only a minor portion of the book. The majority of the book is on the broader history of whaling, which is still interesting. However, every once in a while, I thought it meandered into anecdotes about particular whaling ships rather than the broader focus of whaling’s role in U.S. history. Overall, it is a great compact work on U.S. whaling, but less useful as a contribution to general U.S. history.
Rating: 3 / 5
Was referenced to this book by a friend and I’m glad that I chose Amazon.
The book WAS IN EXCELLENT condition and shipped quickly. Thank you.
Ken
Driscoll
Rating: 5 / 5