Format:
Book
Author:
Davis, Jack E., 1956- author.
Title:
The Gulf : the making of an American sea / Jack E. Davis.
Edition:
First edition.
Publisher, Date:
New York, NY : Liveright Publishing Corporation, [2017]
©2017
Description:
x, 592 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
Summary:
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. Based on the premise that nature lies at the center of human existence, Davis 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, both beautiful and life-giving, though fated to exploitation by esurient oil men and real-estate developers. Davis shares previously untold stories, parading a vast array of historical characters past our view: sports-fishermen, presidents, Hollywood executives, New England fishers, the Tabasco king, a Texas shrimper, and a New York architect who caught the "big one". Sensitive to the imminent effects of climate change, and to the difficult task of rectifying the assaults of recent centuries, this book suggests how a penetrating examination of a single region's history can inform the country's path ahead.
Subjects:
Human ecology -- Mexico, Gulf of.
Environmental degradation -- Mexico, Gulf of.
Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Mexico, Gulf of.
HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
NATURE -- Ecosystems & Habitats -- Coastal Regions & Shorelines.
Ecology.
Environmental degradation.
Human ecology.
Nature -- Effect of human beings on.
Nature -- Effect of human beings on -- Mexico, Gulf of.
Environmental degradation -- Mexico, Gulf of.
Human ecology -- Mexico, Gulf of.
Mexico, Gulf of -- History.
Mexico, Gulf of -- Environmental conditions.
Gulf of Mexico.
Genre:
History.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 533-564) and index.
Contents:
Prologue: History, nature, and a forgotten sea -- Introduction: Birth -- Part one: Estuaries, and the lie of the land and sea : aborigines and colonizing Europeans. Mounds ; El golfo de México ; Unnecessary death ; A most important river, and a "magnificent" bay -- Part two: Sea and sky : American debuts in the nineteenth century. Manifest destiny ; A fishy sea ; The wild fish that tamed the coast ; Birds of a feather, shot together -- Part three: Preludes to the future. From bayside to beachside ; Oil and the Texas toe dip ; Oil and the Louisiana plunge ; Islands, shifting sands of time ; Wind and water -- Part four: Saturation and loss : post-1945. The growth coast ; Florida worry, Texas slurry ; Rivers of stuff ; Runoff, and runaway ; Sand in the hourglass ; Losing the edge -- Epilogue: A success story amid so much else.
LCCN:
2016051692
ISBN:
9780871408662
087140866X
Other Number:
951070916
System Availability:
1
Current Holds:
0
# Local items:
1
Control Number:
103260
Call Number:
909.09 DAV
Course Reserves:
0
# Local items in:
1
# System items in:
1