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    The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World
    The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World
    The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World
    Audiobook29 hours

    The Sea and Civilization: A Maritime History of the World

    Written by Lincoln Paine

    Narrated by Tom Perkins

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    A monumental retelling of world history through the lens of maritime enterprise, revealing in breathtaking depth how people first came into contact with one another by ocean and river, lake and stream, and how goods, languages, religions, and entire cultures spread across and along the world's waterways, bringing together civilizations and defining what makes us most human.



    Lincoln Paine takes us back to the origins of long-distance migration by sea with our ancestors' first forays from Africa and Eurasia to Australia and the Americas. He demonstrates the critical role of maritime trade to the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Indus Valley. He reacquaints us with the great seafaring cultures of antiquity like those of the Phoenicians and Greeks, as well as those of India and Southeast and East Asia, who parlayed their navigational skills, shipbuilding techniques, and commercial acumen to establish thriving overseas colonies and trade routes in the centuries leading up to the age of European expansion. And finally, his narrative traces how commercial shipping and naval warfare brought about the enormous demographic, cultural, and political changes that have globalized the world throughout the post–Cold War era.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJan 24, 2018
    ISBN9781541488038

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    Reviews for The Sea and Civilization

    4/5

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    • 4/5
      This book is epic in its proportions. I benefited from reading it intermittently over a long period of time. I often try to convince people that you cannot understand history without understanding sailing. Samuel Eliot Morison makes this point often in his histories. Lincoln Paine does a thorough job of defending this thesis. Very satisfying.
    • 4/5
      This tome took me four years to read, but it was very good. It provides a history of seafaring, and a sideways glimpse at world history. I learned a lot about Korean-Japanese-Chinese relations, World War 2 naval strategy, containerisation and flags of convenience, French and English sparring in the the eighteenth century and much more.
    • 3/5
      Single volume histories of the world are always a toss up in regards to coverage due to the vastness of human history. In the introduction of "The Sea and Civilization," Lincoln Paine writes that he is attempting to address the realm of maritime history that has been neglected in modern history works such as Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel" or J.M. Roberts' "History of the World." Admittedly, this must be a very difficult task owing to the fact that much of the archaeological evidence is at the bottom of the sea and that humans, by our very nature, are terrestrial animals and relate most easily to what we can physically see. It is easier to picture a caravan of camels or a busy marketplace than it is to imagine a ship laden with cargo moving over the waves. There are no way-stations or signposts on the oceans. By and large, with vast coverage and well-researched details, Paine succeeds in providing a history of the maritime world.

      "The Sea and Civilization" offers readers a sweeping view of world history with regards to boats, ships, and the movement of people and goods. The book is probably more accurately subtitled “A history of the maritime world”. Civilizations, both ancient and modern, are discussed. Kings, Queens, sailors, and landlubbers are involved in trade deals that span thousands of miles and cross all manner of terrain. Other reviews describe the book as encyclopedic or comprehensive. For the most part, the book covers world history both chronologically and by regions. For example, in Chapter 2, Paine discusses trade and boats along the Nile River in ancient Egypt. The next chapter covers seafaring peoples of the Bronze Age. A careful reader will surmise that none of these developments in the world are occurring in a vacuum, but rather concurrently. One of the best things about “The Sea and Civilization” is that Paine devotes a portion of each chapter to discuss the technological developments of boats and ships in order to give the reader a better understanding of the similarities and differences that each part of the world had when it came to marine engineering. This is good for historians who are more interested in the technical developments of shipbuilding.

      My main criticisms of “The Sea and Civilization” are the scarcity of maps, and the occasional wordiness of the narrative. Given that this is a world history focused on trade and the movement of people, much of the details of the narrative are devoted to seemingly obscure ports or cities in foreign climes, many of which no longer exist or have changed their names over the centuries. Sadly, all of the maps are concentrated at the front of the book forcing the reader to either flip back and forth or have a historical atlas open in front of them. Secondly, this is perhaps more of a personal issue, but the narrative frequently includes a massive amount of names, places, events, and other details which are sometimes difficult to follow due to the way it is written.

      Overall, “The Sea and Civilization” is a decently written single-volume world history that gives the detail-oriented reader a stronger conception of the role of the oceans, boats, ships, and trade in our world.
    • 4/5
      Lincoln Paine’s The Sea and Civilization provides an essential supplement to terrestrial-oriented world histories. The importance of maritime affairs in commercial and military affairs is well-known, but is skimmed over in many histories that focus on land-based politics.
      This book will be most useful to those who already have a broad knowledge of world history. It is best taken in small doses, as the writing can seem tedious and over-detailed. It is difficult to see how such a broad subject could be covered in a more zestful fashion, however. Overall, this is a useful and interesting book. Everyone will learn things that they didn’t know.