Mastering the Inland Seas: How Lighthouses, Navigational Aids, and Harbors Transformed the Great Lakes and America

Karamanski, Theodore J.

ISBN 10: 0299326306 / ISBN 13: 9780299326302

Published by University of Wisconsin Press, 2020

About this Item

Seller Inventory # I-9780299326302

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Mastering the Inland Seas: How Lighthouses, Navigational Aids, and Harbors Transformed the Great Lakes and America
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0299326306
• ISBN 13: 9780299326302
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Theodore J. Karamanski's sweeping maritime history demonstrates the far-ranging impact that the tools and infrastructure developed for navigating the Great Lakes had on the national economies, politics, and environment of continental North America. Synthesizing popular as well as original historical scholarship, Karamanski weaves a colorful narrative illustrating how disparate private and government interests transformed these vast and dangerous waters into the largest inland water transportation system in the world.
Karamanski explores both the navigational and sailing tools of First Nations peoples and the dismissive and foolhardy attitude of early European maritime sailors. He investigates the role played by commercial boats in the Underground Railroad, as well as how the federal development of crucial navigational resources exacerbated sectionalism in the antebellum United States. Ultimately Mastering the Inland Sea shows the undeniable environmental impact of technologies used by the modern commercial maritime industry. This expansive story illuminates the symbiotic relationship between infrastructure investment in the region's interconnected waterways and North America's lasting economic and political development.

About the Author

Theodore J. Karamanski is Professor of History and Director of the Public History Graduate Program at Loyola University Chicago.