{"title":"David Abulafia","description":"David Abulafia is Emeritus Professor of Mediterranean History at Cambridge University. He is the author of many books, including The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean.","products":[{"product_id":"the-boundless-sea-a-human-history-of-the-oceans-hardcover","title":"The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the beginning of history to the present, a sweep of the world's oceans and seas and how they have shaped the course of civilization. \u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrom the author of the acclaimed \u003cem\u003eThe Great Sea\u003c\/em\u003e, (\"Magnificent . . . radiates scholarship and a sense of wonder and fun,\" Simon Sebag Montefiore; Book of the Year, \u003cem\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/em\u003e), David Abulafia's new book guides readers along the world's 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 earth's 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFar more than merely another history of exploration, \u003cem\u003eThe Boundless Sea\u003c\/em\u003e 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\u003cem\u003e The Atlantic\u003c\/em\u003e 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 world's greatest storytellers.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51365703975135,"sku":"9780199934980","price":51.82,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/Hjfayo0irT9780199934980.webp?v=1789070143"},{"product_id":"the-great-sea-a-human-history-of-the-mediterranean-paperback","title":"The Great Sea: A Human History of the Mediterranean - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eConnecting Europe, Asia, and Africa, the Mediterranean Sea has been for millennia the place where religions, economies, and political systems met, clashed, influenced and absorbed one another. In this brilliant and expansive book, David Abulafia offers a fresh perspective by focusing on the sea itself: its practical importance for transport and sustenance; its dynamic role in the rise and fall of empires; and the remarkable cast of characters-sailors, merchants, migrants, pirates, pilgrims-who have crossed and re-crossed it. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRanging from prehistory to the 21st century, \u003cem\u003eThe Great Sea\u003c\/em\u003e is above all a history of human interaction. Interweaving major political and naval developments with the ebb and flow of trade, Abulafia explores how commercial competition in the Mediterranean created both rivalries and partnerships, with merchants acting as intermediaries between cultures, trading goods that were as exotic on one side of the sea as they were commonplace on the other. He stresses the remarkable ability of Mediterranean cultures to uphold the civilizing ideal of \u003cem\u003econvivencia\u003c\/em\u003e, \"living together.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNow available in paperback, \u003cem\u003eThe Great Sea\u003c\/em\u003e is the definitive account of perhaps the most vibrant theater of human interaction in history.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51365706301663,"sku":"9780199315994","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/S2url7qZ9U9780199315994.webp?v=1789070156"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/david-abulafia.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}