Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America

Few things can capture the danger and desperation of men at sea as dramatically as whaling. Eric Jay Dolin begins with Captain John Smith's expedition to the New World in 1614. He chronicles the rise of a burgeoning industry, to its golden age when a fleet of more than 700 ships hunted the seas and its decline as the twentieth century dawned. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich accounts of the whalers and contains a wealth of detail on whales.