New & Noted discovered about that infamous day from a distance of 75 years. Sand and Steel is history done well, and a good read but not to be confused as entertainment. David O. Whitten, PhD Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans by David Abulafia (Oxford University Press, New York, 2019, 1088pp, illus, authors notes, index, isbn 978-01999-34980; $39.95hc) Clearly the seas or oceans are very large spaces that at one time kept people apart, but in time they brought humankind together to form the world’s civilizations, the intellectual cultural and material development of a global human society. This was the result of ocean explorers, travelers, traders, migrants, and religious pilgrims. People transported the results of all manner of their labors on waterways, most of which served as gateways giving access to vast interior land masses. “My bounty is as boundless as the sea/ My love as deep” (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2 scene 2)—David Abulafia borrowed his title from William Shakespeare for his latest tome, The Boundless Sea, a series of chronologies divided into five uneven parts. The three main protagonists in this drama are: the oldest ocean, the Pacific; the middle ocean, the Indian Ocean and its neighbors; and then the younger ocean, the Atlantic. Minor bodies of water, players if you will, that receive more concise attention are what the author calls “Oceans in Conversation” and “Oceans Contained.” This far-reaching book probes the means, motives, and timelines of humanity as it crossed the oceans and subsequently brought interdependence between geographically distant nations. In doing so, the author offers a novel definition of globalization: the time when the humans made ambitious sea passages to the unknown, prompting the age of exploration and then charted routes across the planet’s vast waters. The byproduct of these voyages to the unknown was long distance maritime trade beyond littoral and riverine waters.
There are several important themes in this book. The first is how humans came to occupy and develop previously uninhabited land, particularly islands that were scattered in the more remote oceans. Another is that most oceanic histories touch upon prehistory, but really begin with the Norsemen, and then the contributions of Spanish and Portuguese explorers with some reference to the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The author readily encompasses the contributions of all societies that plied the sea but avoids dwelling upon natural history as opposed to human history. His narrative stays on the sea’s surface to survey constrained contacts between humans across oceans and their shores. These created new connections not only between distant landmasses, but between civilizations, and their religious customs and beliefs, foods, unique goods and cultural artifacts broadened ideas and created wealth. The downside was that ocean travel brought disease and conflict. Abulafia largely avoids discussions of naval annals, the common topic of most other maritime histories. At 1,088 pages, The Boundless Sea is a large, tightly written scholarly work. On 934 of those pages are text, maps, and color illustrations; 154 pages follow with additional readings, references, and an extensive index. The book could best be described as a textbook for a rigorous college course covering an important topic—a textbook because of its scope, but it makes good reading for non-students who aren’t intimidated by a book’s page count. Professor Abulafia presents many new ideas and makes the connections between others about which the reader may be unaware. He then makes erudite associations between them that at first seem to have little in common. This is a challenging, but marvelous major work. Maritime historians who pursue new understandings to be found along a much-traveled hydrous road will have many future occasions to refer to Abulafia’s elegant work. Louis Arthur Norton West Simsbury, Connecticut
All at Sea: Naval Support for the British Army During the American Revolutionary War by John Dillon (Casemate Publishers, Havertown, PA, 2019, 293pp, illus, maps, notes, biblio, index, isbn 978-1912866-67-0; $37.95pb) A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes by Eric Jay Dolin (W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 2020, illus, notes, biblio, index, isbn 9781-631-49527-4; $29.95hc) The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History by John S. Sledge (Univ. of South Carolina Press, Columbia, 2019, 264pp, illus, biblio, index, isbn 978-1-64336-014-0; $29.99hc) The Last Journey of the San Bao Eunuch Admiral Zheng He by Sheng-Wei Wang (Proverse Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 392pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, isbn 978-988849-165-0; $50pb) Mastering the Inland Seas: How Lighthouses, Navigational Aids, and Harbors Transformed the Great Lakes and America by Theodore J. Karamanski (Univ. of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 2020, 392pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, isbn 978-0-2993630-2; $36.95hc) Operation Rising Sun: The Sinking of Japan’s Secret Submarine I-52 by David W. Jourdan (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, 2020, illus, notes, biblio, index, tables, isbn 978-1-64012-169-0; $34.95hc) Pirates: From Vikings to Somali Raiders: A New Global History with Lessons for Today by Peter Lehr (Yale University Press, New Haven, 2019, 261pp, illus, notes, biblio, index, isbn 978-0-300-28074-9; $30hc) Stories from the Wreckage: A Great Lakes Maritime History Inspired by Shipwrecks by John O. Jensen (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, Madison, 2019, 288pp, isbn 978-0-87020-902-4; $29.95pb) War at Sea: A Shipwrecked History from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century by James P. Delgado (Oxford University Press, New York, 2019, 432pp, maps, illus, biblio, index, isbn 978-0-19088-801-5; $34.95hc)
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