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The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea
The Gulf: The Making of An American Sea | Jack E. Davis
17 posts | 8 read | 3 reading | 39 to read
The tragic collision between civilization and nature in the Gulf of Mexico becomes a uniquely American story in this environmental epic. 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 Americas seabound by geography, culture, and tradition to the national experienceand 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 Seafrom the sportfish that brought the earliest tourists to Gulf shores to Hollywoods engagement with the first offshore oil wellsas 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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CaseyMoore
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An amazing history of the Gulf of Mexico that will leave you thoroughly depressed and destroyed. So strange to read a book that I am so very connected to in various ways.

8 likes1 stack add
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Addison_Reads
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My #NonFiction2019 Bingo Card is finally filled 😁 I had a great time doing this challenge. @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

Riveted_Reader_Melissa Excellent! Great job, and some wonderful books on there. I hope you enjoyed your choices. 5y
Amiable Yay! Congratulations! 🎉 5y
Hooked_on_books Woo-hoo! Nice job! (Shout out for Good and Mad; I loved that book.) 5y
25 likes3 comments
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CaseyMoore
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Sunday reading.

Addison_Reads The Whale and The Gulf are both excellent books. Happy Reading! 😁 5y
CaseyMoore Loving The Whale. The Gulf is heartbreaking for many different reasons. Makes me miss my days as a kid in Destin during the summer. (edited) 5y
8 likes2 comments
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Addison_Reads
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Usually Sunday means work for me, but with the triple digit heat here in Texas we decided to take a day off. So I'm enjoying a lazy Sunday reading in bed, and our new little kitty Charlie is desperately trying to get his big brother Pip to play with him. 😻

#catsoflitsy

The book I'm reading is fascinating too. So much history and science all melded together in a tale of human persistence and nature's survival.

Tadams4 Two lucky black cats! You are blessed! I‘m also ‘enjoying‘ the Texas heat! That book sounds wonderful! Enjoy your Sunday! 5y
31 likes1 comment
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CorinnaBechko
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Wow. This is a sobering read of the type that changes you for the better after the last page is absorbed. Epic in scope, it provides context both culturally and from a natural history perspective about a huge area that shaped the United States yet seldom gets talked. It was a shock to read numerous instances where my hometown was a player, for better and for worse, in historical events. In short, I cried but I loved it. #naturalhistory

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CorinnaBechko
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But first, my plane read on the way to Denver. #naturalhistory

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Hooked_on_books
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Pickpick

A terrific look at the American aspects of the Gulf of Mexico, from human history to natural history, with a bit of geology and a heavy dose of environmentalism. My only complaint is the complete absence of exploration of Mexico‘s interaction with and impact on the Gulf.

#ReadingUSA2019 #Louisiana (though it would work for any of the Gulf states)

Librarybelle Sounds interesting! 5y
NatalieR 👏👏👏 5y
BarbaraBB Interesting! 5y
Addison_Reads Great review! I've been wanting to read this one. 5y
Pamwurtzler 👏👏WOW you‘re really moving along! 5y
47 likes1 stack add5 comments
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WanderingBookaneer
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This was such a great read! #Nonfiction2019

Hooked_on_books I just picked this up on audio for a great deal from Libro! 5y
72 likes1 comment
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WanderingBookaneer
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This hefty tome deals with how people from the United States fell in love with the flora, fauna, and landscape of the Gulf of Mexico, started moving there in droves, and decided to tame it. It is about ecological and geological havocs wreaked and the attempt to save what was inexorably altered. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

chloemichelle I have to pick this up for sure! I live in Houston and have traveled along the gulf coast. 5y
Suet624 Darn humans. 5y
94 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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WanderingBookaneer
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This. 💔

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WanderingBookaneer
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This chapter is about how the areas of Florida I‘ve come to know and love were built. The disregard that people have for nature never ceases to amaze me. 🙁

SexyCajun It is heartbreaking 💔 5y
82 likes1 stack add1 comment
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WanderingBookaneer
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Always heartbreaking to read how species are decimated. Thankfully, in modern days there is always a backlash.

Slajaunie Yes but the rainforests are still disappearing. How many species have we not discovered and now never will? 5y
75 likes1 comment
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WanderingBookaneer
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LibrarianRyan Woo hooo 5y
71 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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MrBook
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#TBRtemptation post 9! A Pulitzer Prize-winning work. This is the first comprehensive history of the "American Sea", the Gulf of Mexico. From the Pleistocene through today, you'll meet its wildlife, its shorelines, its characters. From the natives to New Englanders, presidents to the Tabasco king, it's a riveting on-going story. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook ?

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Carleneishere
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Doing some personal research during a slow day at my NEW JOB! GulfQuest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico. Photobomb by hurricane Katrina. Jump over to my Instagram (same handle) for a time lapse of hurricane season 2005.

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WanderingBookaneer
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#TBRTemptation I know I would listen to the audiobook in a heartbeat, but it's a pretty hefty book and I'm afraid of the commitment. #SoManyBooksSoLittleTime

DreesReads To me, the audiobook would be too much of a commitment lol! Stacked. 7y
72 likes7 stack adds1 comment
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addison.roush
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Learning so much about the Gulf of Mexico from its formation to overfishing and overhunting in the 19th and 20th centuries. Definitely recommend checking this one out in March

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