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Hurricanes menace North America from June through to November every
year, each as powerful as 10,000 nuclear bombs. These megastorms
will likely become more intense as the planet continues to warm,
yet we too often treat them as local disasters and TV spectacles,
unaware of how far-ranging their impact can be. As best-selling
historian Eric Jay Dolin contends, we must look to our nation's
past if we hope to comprehend the consequences of the hurricanes of
the future. With A Furious Sky, Dolin has created a vivid,
sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the
nameless storms that threatened Columbus's New World voyages to the
destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Weaving a
story of shipwrecks and devastated cities, of heroism and folly,
Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes, such as Benito
Vines, a nineteenth-century Jesuit priest whose innovative methods
for predicting hurricanes saved countless lives and puts us in the
middle of the most devastating storms of the past, none worse than
the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed at least 6,000
people, the highest toll of any natural disaster in American
history. Dolin draws on a vast array of sources as he melds
American history, as it is usually told, with the history of
hurricanes, showing how these tempests frequently helped determine
the nation's course. Hurricanes, it turns out, prevented Spain from
expanding its holdings in North America beyond Florida in the late
1500s and they also played a key role in shifting the tide of the
American Revolution against the British in the final stages of the
conflict. As he moves through the centuries, following the rise of
the United States despite the chaos caused by hurricanes, Dolin
traces the corresponding development of hurricane science, from
important discoveries made by Benjamin Franklin to the
breakthroughs spurred by the necessities of World War II and the
Cold War. Yet after centuries of study and despite remarkable leaps
in scientific knowledge and technological prowess, there are still
limits on our ability to predict exactly when and where hurricanes
will strike and we remain vulnerable to the greatest storms on
earth. A Furious Sky is, ultimately, a story of a changing climate
and it forces us to reckon with the reality that, as bad as the
past has been, the future will probably be worse unless we
drastically re-imagine our relationship with the planet.
The heroic story of the founding of the US Navy during the American
Revolution has been told before, yet missing from most maritime
histories of the country's first war is the ragtag fleet of private
vessels, from 20-foot whaleboats to 40-cannon men-of-war, that
truly revealed the new nation's character-above all, its ambition
and entrepreneurial ethos. In Rebels at Sea, best-selling historian
Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission and contends that
privateers, though often seen as profiteers at best and pirates at
worst, were in fact critical to the American Revolution's outcome.
Armed with cannons, swivel guns, muskets and pikes-as well as
government documents granting them the right to seize enemy
ships-thousands of privateers tormented the British on the broad
Atlantic and in bays and harbours on both sides of the ocean.
Abounding with tales of daring manoeuvers and deadly encounters,
Rebels at Sea presents the American Revolution as we have rarely
seen it before.
The heroic story of the founding of the US Navy during the American
Revolution has been told before, yet missing from most maritime
histories of the countryâs first war is the ragtag fleet of
private vessels, from 20-foot whaleboats to 40-cannon men-of-war,
that truly revealed the new nationâs characterâabove all, its
ambition and entrepreneurial ethos. In Rebels at Sea, best-selling
historian Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission and
contends that privateers, though often seen as profiteers at best
and pirates at worst, were in fact critical to the American
Revolutionâs outcome. Armed with cannons, swivel guns, muskets
and pikesâas well as government documents granting them the right
to seize enemy shipsâthousands of privateers tormented the
British on the broad Atlantic and in bays and harbours on both
sides of the ocean. Abounding with tales of daring manoeuvres and
deadly encounters, Rebels at Sea presents the American Revolution
as we have rarely seen it before.
In this "magnificent compendium" (New Republic), best-selling
author Eric Jay Dolin presents the definitive history of American
lighthouses, and in so doing "illuminate[s] the history of America
itself" (Entertainment Weekly). Treating readers to a memorable
cast of characters and "fascinating anecdotes" (New York Review of
Books), Dolin shows how the story of the nation, from a regional
backwater colony to global industrial power, can be illustrated
through its lighthouses-from New England to the Gulf of Mexico, the
Great Lakes, the Pacific Coast, and all the way to Alaska and
Hawaii. A Captain and Classic Boat Best Nautical Book of 2016
Set against the backdrop of the Age of Exploration, Black Flags,
Blue Waters reveals the surprising history of American piracy's
"Golden Age" - spanning the late 1600s through the early 1700s -
when lawless pirates plied the coastal waters of North America and
beyond. "Deftly blending scholarship and drama" (Richard Zacks),
best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin illustrates how American
colonists at first supported these outrageous pirates in an early
display of solidarity against the Crown, and then violently opposed
them. Through engrossing episodes of roguish glamour and extreme
brutality, Dolin depicts the star pirates of this period, among
them the towering Blackbeard, the ill-fated Captain Kidd, and
sadistic Edward Low, who delighted in torturing his prey. Upending
popular misconceptions and cartoonish stereotypes, Black Flags,
Blue Waters is a "tour de force history" (Michael Pierce,
Midwestern Rewind) of the seafaring outlaws whose raids reflect the
precarious nature of American colonial life.
As Henry Hudson sailed up the broad river that would one day bear
his name, he grew concerned that his Dutch patrons would be
disappointed in his failure to find the fabled route to the Orient.
What became immediately apparent, however, from the Indians clad in
deer skins and "good furs" was that Hudson had discovered something
just as tantalizing. The news of Hudson's 1609 voyage to America
ignited a fierce competition to lay claim to this uncharted
continent, teeming with untapped natural resources. The result was
the creation of an American fur trade, which fostered economic
rivalries and fueled wars among the European powers, and later
between the United States and Great Britain, as North America
became a battleground for colonization and imperial aspirations. In
Fur, Fortune, and Empire, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin
chronicles the rise and fall of the fur trade of old, when the
rallying cry was "get the furs while they last." Beavers, sea
otters, and buffalos were slaughtered, used for their precious
pelts that were tailored into extravagant hats, coats, and sleigh
blankets. To read Fur, Fortune, and Empire then is to understand
how North America was explored, exploited, and settled, while its
native Indians were alternately enriched and exploited by the
trade. As Dolin demonstrates, fur, both an economic elixir and an
agent of destruction, became inextricably linked to many key events
in American history, including the French and Indian War, the
American Revolution, and the War of 1812, as well as to the
relentless pull of Manifest Destiny and the opening of the West.
This work provides an international cast beyond the scope of any
Hollywood epic, including Thomas Morton, the rabble-rouser who
infuriated the Pilgrims by trading guns with the Indians; British
explorer Captain James Cook, whose discovery in the Pacific
Northwest helped launch America's China trade; Thomas Jefferson who
dreamed of expanding the fur trade beyond the Mississippi;
America's first multimillionaire John Jacob Astor, who built a
fortune on a foundation of fur; and intrepid mountain men such as
Kit Carson and Jedediah Smith, who sliced their way through an awe
inspiring and unforgiving landscape, leaving behind a mythic legacy
still resonates today. Concluding with the virtual extinction of
the buffalo in the late 1800s, Fur, Fortune, and Empire is an epic
history that brings to vivid life three hundred years of the
American experience, conclusively demonstrating that the fur trade
played a seminal role in creating the nation we are today.
Hurricanes menace North America from June through to November every
year, each as powerful as 10,000 nuclear bombs. These megastorms
will likely become more intense as the planet continues to warm,
yet we too often treat them as local disasters and TV spectacles,
unaware of how far-ranging their impact can be. As best-selling
historian Eric Jay Dolin contends, we must look to our nation's
past if we hope to comprehend the consequences of the hurricanes of
the future. With A Furious Sky, Dolin has created a vivid,
sprawling account of our encounters with hurricanes, from the
nameless storms that threatened Columbus's New World voyages to the
destruction wrought in Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria. Weaving a
story of shipwrecks and devastated cities, of heroism and folly,
Dolin introduces a rich cast of unlikely heroes, such as Benito
Vines, a nineteenth-century Jesuit priest whose innovative methods
for predicting hurricanes saved countless lives and puts us in the
middle of the most devastating storms of the past, none worse than
the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which killed at least 6,000
people, the highest toll of any natural disaster in American
history. Dolin draws on a vast array of sources as he melds
American history, as it is usually told, with the history of
hurricanes, showing how these tempests frequently helped determine
the nation's course. Hurricanes, it turns out, prevented Spain from
expanding its holdings in North America beyond Florida in the late
1500s and they also played a key role in shifting the tide of the
American Revolution against the British in the final stages of the
conflict. As he moves through the centuries, following the rise of
the United States despite the chaos caused by hurricanes, Dolin
traces the corresponding development of hurricane science, from
important discoveries made by Benjamin Franklin to the
breakthroughs spurred by the necessities of World War II and the
Cold War. Yet after centuries of study and despite remarkable leaps
in scientific knowledge and technological prowess, there are still
limits on our ability to predict exactly when and where hurricanes
will strike and we remain vulnerable to the greatest storms on
earth. A Furious Sky is, ultimately, a story of a changing climate
and it forces us to reckon with the reality that, as bad as the
past has been, the future will probably be worse unless we
drastically re-imagine our relationship with the planet.
Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of
American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our
fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving
nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power
from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our
time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern
relationship with China. Indeed, the furious trade in furs, opium,
and beche-de-mer-a rare sea cucumber delicacy-might have catalyzed
America's emerging economy, but it also sparked an ecological and
human rights catastrophe of such epic proportions that the
reverberations can still be felt today. Peopled with fascinating
characters-from the "Financier of the Revolution" Robert Morris to
the Chinese emperor Qianlong, who considered foreigners inferior
beings-this page-turning saga of pirates and politicians, coolies
and concubines becomes a must-read for any fan of Nathaniel
Philbrick's Mayflower or Mark Kurlansky's Cod.
Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of
American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our
fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving
nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power
from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our
time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern
relationship with China. Indeed, the furious trade in furs, opium,
and beche-de-mer-a rare sea cucumber delicacy-might have catalyzed
America's emerging economy, but it also sparked an ecological and
human rights catastrophe of such epic proportions that the
reverberations can still be felt today. Peopled with fascinating
characters-from the "Financier of the Revolution" Robert Morris to
the Chinese emperor Qianlong, who considered foreigners inferior
beings-this page-turning saga of pirates and politicians, coolies
and concubines becomes a must-read for any fan of Nathaniel
Philbrick's Mayflower or Mark Kurlansky's Cod.
Moving to a new town can be tough. For
Jug-a-ro-mack-a-la-lulu-e-quack-a-la-lulu-e-zack-a-la-lulu-o-pippin,
hard is putting it mildly. Badgersville may look like a nice town,
but some of the people can be mean. With the help of his
grandfather and an old pad handed down through his family, can he
learn to overcome the Badgersville bullies?
Getting a Ph.D. is an intellectually exciting experience. It can
also be very painful. Roughly 40,000 doctoral students graduate
each year in the United States. Most of them bear the scars of what
is too often a lonely and difficult rite of passage. They all could
have benefited from seeing the lighter side of the doctoral
process, and that is what "The Ph.D. Survival Guide" provides.
Learn how to pick a school based on its location, plead for
acceptance, identify subspecies of Homo doctoratus, avoid
professorial deadwood, select courses that aren't lethal, qualify
for a platinum copying card, raise jargon to an art form, interact
with unsympathetic friends and family members, footnote one's way
to nirvana, suck up to secretaries, survive the dissertation
defense without crying, and reenter the real world. "The Ph.D.
Survival Guide" blends humor with advice that will help doctoral
students graduate more or less in one piece.
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