With Sails Whitening Every Sea

By Brian Rouleau,

Book cover of With Sails Whitening Every Sea: Mariners and the Making of an American Maritime Empire

Book description

Many Americans in the Early Republic era saw the seas as another field for national aggrandizement. With a merchant marine that competed against Britain for commercial supremacy and a whaling fleet that circled the globe, the United States sought a maritime empire to complement its territorial ambitions in North America.…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked With Sails Whitening Every Sea as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

It’s not possible to understand the United States without understanding its maritime past. Rouleau takes us onto the forecastle to show just how important US mariners were (how could they not be when 100,00 departed the republic each year?) in a vivid account with lots of surprising details drawn from scrimshaw and logbooks. These working-class diplomats shaped the foreign perception of the United States in port cities around the world through their (often violent) encounters with foreign peoples, their onshore carousing, and their spread of black face minstrelsy around the globe.

Want books like With Sails Whitening Every Sea?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like With Sails Whitening Every Sea.

Browse books like With Sails Whitening Every Sea

Book cover of Consumers' Imperium: The Global Production of American Domesticity, 1865-1920
Book cover of In Search of Brightest Africa: Reimagining the Dark Continent in American Culture, 1884-1936
Book cover of Reforming the World: The Creation of America's Moral Empire

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,188

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in international relations, sailors, and minstrel shows?

Sailors 24 books
Minstrel Shows 8 books