When painter Winslow Homer first sailed into the Gulf of Mexico, he
was struck by its "special kind of providence." Indeed, the Gulf
presented itself as America's sea-bound by geography, culture, and
tradition to the national experience-and yet, there has never been
a comprehensive history of the Gulf until now. And so, in this rich
and original work that explores the Gulf through our human
connection with the sea, environmental historian Jack E. Davis
finally places this exceptional region into the American mythos in
a sweeping history that extends from the Pleistocene age to the
twenty-first century. Significant beyond tragic oil spills and
hurricanes, the Gulf has historically been one of the world's most
bounteous marine environments, supporting human life for millennia.
Davis starts from the premise that nature lies at the center of
human existence, and takes readers on a compelling and, at times,
wrenching journey from the Florida Keys to the Texas Rio Grande,
along marshy shorelines and majestic estuarine bays, profoundly
beautiful and life-giving, though fated to exploitation by esurient
oil men and real-estate developers. Rich in vivid, previously
untold stories, The Gulf tells the larger narrative of the American
Sea-from the sportfish that brought the earliest tourists to Gulf
shores to Hollywood's engagement with the first offshore oil
wells-as it inspired and empowered, sometimes to its own detriment,
the ethnically diverse groups of a growing nation. Davis' pageant
of historical characters is vast, including: the presidents who
directed western expansion toward its shores, the New England
fishers who introduced their own distinct skills to the region, and
the industries and big agriculture that sent their contamination
downstream into the estuarine wonderland. Nor does Davis neglect
the colorfully idiosyncratic individuals: the Tabasco king who
devoted his life to wildlife conservation, the Texas shrimper who
gave hers to clean water and public health, as well as the New York
architect who hooked the "big one" that set the sportfishing world
on fire. Ultimately, Davis reminds us that amidst the ruin, beauty
awaits its return, as the Gulf is, and has always been, an ongoing
story. Sensitive to the imminent effects of climate change, and to
the difficult task of rectifying grievous assaults of recent
centuries, The Gulf suggests how a penetrating examination of a
single region's history can inform the country's path ahead.
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