{"product_id":"leviathan-the-history-of-whaling-in-america-9780393331578","title":"Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America","description":"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, \u003cem\u003eLeviathan\u003c\/em\u003e is the most original and stirring history of American whaling in many decades.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDolin, Eric Jay:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eEric Jay Dolin\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of fourteen books. His most recent is \u003cem\u003eA Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes\u003c\/em\u003e, which received a number of accolades, including being chosen by the \u003cem\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/em\u003e as one of 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020, by \u003cem\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/em\u003e as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 (in addition to being a \u003cem\u003eKirkus\u003c\/em\u003e Prize finalist), by the \u003cem\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eBooklist\u003c\/em\u003e as one of the Best Science \u0026amp; Technology Books of 2020, and by the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e as an Editor's Choice. Other books include \u003cem\u003eLeviathan: The History of Whaling in America\u003c\/em\u003e, which was chosen as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007 by the \u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/em\u003e, and also won the 2007 John Lyman Award for U.S. Maritime History; and \u003cem\u003eBlack Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates\u003c\/em\u003e, which was chosen as a Must-Read book for 2019 by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and was a finalist for the 2019 Julia Ward Howe Award given by the Boston Author's Club. A graduate of Brown, Yale, and MIT, where he received his Ph.D. in environmental policy, Dolin lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with his family.","brand":"W. W. Norton \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50627682926866,"sku":"9780393331578","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3c3af549-b727-467b-b3e7-35d19a82478b.jpg?v=1732708377","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/leviathan-the-history-of-whaling-in-america-9780393331578","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}