Author:
Berry, Stephen Russell, 1970-
ImprintNew Haven : Yale University Press, [2015]
Descriptionxiv, 320 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Note:Introduction : charting courses -- Embarkation -- Sea legs -- Shipmates -- Unbroken horizons -- Crossing lines -- Tedium -- Tempests -- Land ho! -- Conclusion : the journey on.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Note:"This book tells the story of how people experienced the eighteenth-century crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, exploring the transformative journey undertaken by the thousands of Europeans who journeyed in search of a better life. Stephen Berry shows how the ships, on which passengers were contained in close quarters for months at a time, operated as compressed "frontiers," where diverse groups encountered one another and established new patterns of social organization. As he argues that experiences aboard ship served as a profound conversion experience for travelers, both spiritually and culturally, Berry reframes the history of Atlantic migrations, giving the ocean and the ship a more prominent role in Atlantic history. The ocean was more than a backdrop for human events: it actively shaped historical experiences by furnishing a dissociative break from normal patterns of life and a formative stage in travelers' processes of collective identification"-- Provided by publisher.
