This book explores the sea and its meanings from ancient myths to contemporary geopolitics, from Atlantis to the Mediterranean migrant crisis. Richard Hamblyn traces a cultural and geographical journey from estuary to abyss, beginning with the topographies of the shoreline and ending with the likely futures of our maritime environments. Along the way, the sea becomes a site of work and endurance, of story and song, of language, leisure and longing. By considering the sea as both a physical and a cultural presence, this book shines new light upon it, and its indelible place in the human imagination.

About the Author
Richard Hamblyn is a lecturer in the department of English, Theatre and Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London. An award-winning environmental writer and historian, his previous books include The Invention of Clouds (2001), Terra: Tales of the Earth (2009), The Art of Science (2011), Extraordinary Weather (2012) and Clouds and Tsunami in Reaktion's Earth series.

Reviews
"A whirlwind tour of the world's seas and oceans . . . from oceanography and marine biology to the specialist language of seafarers to the sea as it is represented in art, music, film, and literature, to a dire warning of the sea's vulnerability to anthropogenic global warming, overfishing, and the eternal life of plastics tossed unthinkingly into the sea. . . . What makes The Sea rare is Hamblyn's intellectual agility, his capacity to write freshly (and with extraordinary economy) about everything he touches on. He holds my interest and admiration throughout this gorgeously illustrated book." -- Jonathan Raban, author of "Passage to Juneau: A Sea and Its Meanings" and editor of "The Oxford Book of the Sea"



Book Information
ISBN 9781789144871
Author Richard Hamblyn
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Reaktion Books
Publisher Reaktion Books