{"product_id":"the-boundless-sea-a-human-history-of-the-oceans-9780199934980","title":"The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the beginning of history to the present  a sweep of the worlds oceans and seas and how they have shaped the course of civilization.  From the author of the acclaimed The Great Sea  (\"Magnificent . . . radiates scholarship and a sense of wonder and fun \" Simon Sebag Montefiore; Book of the Year  The Economist)  David Abulafias new book guides readers along the worlds greatest bodies of water to reveal their primary role in human history. The main protagonists are the three major oceans--the Atlantic  the Pacific  and the Indian--which together comprise the majority of the earths water and cover over half of its surface. Over time  as passage through them gradually extended and expanded  linking first islands and then continents  maritime networks developed  evolving from local exploration to lines of regional communication and commerce and eventually to major arteries. These waterways carried goods  plants  livestock  and of course people--free and enslaved--across vast expanses  transforming and ultimately linking irrevocably the economies and cultures of Africa  Europe  Asia  and the Americas.  Far more than merely another history of exploration  The Boundless Sea shows how maritime networks gradually formed a continuum of interaction and interconnection. Working chronologically  Abulafia moves from the earliest forays of peoples taking hand-hewn canoes into uncharted waters  to the routes taken daily by supertankers in the thousands. History on the grandest scale and scope  written with passion and precision  this is a project few could have undertaken. Abulafia  whom The Atlantic calls \"superb writer with a gift for lucid compression and an eye for the telling detail \" proves again why he ranks as one of the worlds greatest storytellers.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45280446119989,"sku":"ByrdShop_0199934983","price":30.88,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780199934980.jpg?v=1780636562","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-boundless-sea-a-human-history-of-the-oceans-9780199934980","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}