Winner, John Lyman Award, North American Society for Oceanic
HistoryWinner, Heritage Book Award, Maryland Historic TrustFirst Place,
Professional Scholarly Books, 25th Annual New York Book Show
Harvested for food, harnessed for power, and home to more than 3,600
species of plants, fish, and animals, the Chesapeake Bay and its
tributaries have long been essential to the sustainability and survival
of the region's populations. Historian William S. Dudley explores that
history in an engaging and comprehensive account of Maryland's storied
maritime heritage.
Dudley paints a vivid picture of Maryland's maritime past in its
broadest scope, exploring the complex and nuanced interactions of
humans, land, and water through descriptions of shipbuilding, steam
technology, agricultural pollution, commercial and passenger
transportation, naval campaigns, watermen, crabbing, and oystering. He
also discusses the evolution of recreational boating--yachting,
cruising, and racing--and the role of underwater archaeology in
uncovering the bay's shipwrecks. These interactions become chapters in
the larger story of Maryland's waterways, a story that Dudley tells
through insightful prose and stunning illustrations.
This rich history of Maryland's waterways reveals how human enterprise
has affected--and been affected by--the Chesapeake Bay and its
tributaries.
