The epic history of the "iron men in wooden boats" who built an industrial empire through the pursuit of whales.

"To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme," Herman Melville proclaimed, and this absorbing history demonstrates that few things can capture the sheer danger and desperation of men on the deep sea as dramatically as whaling. Eric Jay Dolin begins his vivid narrative with Captain John Smith's botched whaling expedition to the New World in 1614. He then chronicles the rise of a burgeoning industry—from its brutal struggles during the Revolutionary period to its golden age in the mid-1800s when a fleet of more than 700 ships hunted the seas and American whale oil lit the world, to its decline as the twentieth century dawned. This sweeping social and economic history provides rich and often fantastic accounts of the men themselves, who mutinied, murdered, rioted, deserted, drank, scrimshawed, and recorded their experiences in journals and memoirs. Containing a wealth of naturalistic detail on whales, Leviathan is the most original and stirring history of American whaling in many decades. 32 pages of illustrations.

【作者簡介】

埃裏剋•傑•多林，畢業於布朗大學，曾任美國環保署項目經理，在美國和倫敦從事環境顧問工作，他的大部分作品反映瞭他對野生動物、環境和美國曆史的興趣，如《美國和中國最初的相遇》《皮毛、財富和帝國》《政治的渾水》《蛇頭》等。個人網站：www.ericjaydolin.com

【譯者簡介】

馮璿，北京外國語大學英語學院畢業，曾在齣版社從事版權工作，現在專門從事翻譯工作，已經翻譯齣版瞭《鬱金香熱》《美第奇傢族的興衰》《安第斯山脈的生與死》《印加帝國的末日》《皮毛、財富和帝國》等作品。榮獲2018年度中國書業評選•翻譯奬。