From Antiquity to modern times, the Atlantic has been the subject of myths and legends. The Atlantic by Paul Butel offers a global history of the ocean encompassing the exploits of adventurers, Vikings, explorers such as Christopher Columbus, emigrants, fishermen, and modern traders. The book also highlights the importance of the growth of ports such as New York and Liverpool and the battles of the Atlantic in the world wars of the twentieth century.
The author offers an examination of the legends of the ocean, beginning with the Phoenicians and Carthaginians navigating beyong the Pillars of Hercules, and details the exploitation and power struggles of the Atlantic through the centuries.
The book surveys the important events in the Atlantic's rich history and comprehensively analyses the changing fortunes of sea-going nations, including Britain, the United States and Germany.
Biography
Paul Butel
'This ambitious book, which ranges from the legends of Atlantis and the voyages of St. Brenden to the dual of NATO and the Warsaw Pact in the 1980s is a triumph of lucid compression.' - Frank Mclynn, Literary Review
'The value of this important book can be found in its ambition, breath of learning and distinct perspective. It will serve a wide community of historians who touch on the ocean as a corrective to the prevailing literature, a check on Anglo-centric assumptions.' - Reviews in History
'Informed by his own important research Butels book is a fine contribution to the available literature and will serve to deepen Anglo-American understanding in this area.' - Mariners Mirror
'Professor Butels histoy of the Atlantic Ocean is one of the most important books to appear in recent years.' - International Journal of Maritime History
