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American Sea Writing: A Literary Anthology
Drawing on literary masterworks and riveting firsthand narratives, travel writing and natural science, memoir and journalism, American Sea Writing captures the full sweep of America's maritime experience. From voyagers of the 17th century to ecological dilemmas of the 20th, from Cotton Mather and Washington Irving to Peter Matthiessen and Barry Lopez, the collection casts our national story in a new and revealing light. Here are many of our greatest writers: Cooper inventing the sea novel, Emerson on an Atlantic crossing; Poe recasting the Flying Dutchman legend; Whitman, Melville, Stephen Crane, Jack London, Eugene O'Neill, Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway all mining their sea experiences in vivid writing. Here too are dramatic eyewitness accounts: William Bradford on the Mayflower; Olaudah Equiano on a slave ship; Captain Cook's death on a Hawaiian beach; Lewis and Clark sighting the Pacific; the wreck of the Essex and the Globe mutiny; Joshua Slocum's solo voyage; William Beebe's deep-sea descent: John McPhee on the continuing vulnerability of ships today. Throughout are neglected works of remarkable power: Celia Thaxter on the desolate New England seacoast; Lafcadio Hearn's lush Gulf Coast seascapes; Henry Beston's meditation on waves; Rachel Carson exploring the interaction of sea and land; Joseph Mitchell's startling essay on what lies beneath New York harbor. American Sea Writing is a unique literary voyage in the company of some of our greatest writers.
671 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2000
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145 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 13, 2025
By the sea, by the sea, by the wonderful sea. Yes siree. Sitting on a settee reading about the sea. Just me.
Really, this book was just a candy store. Licorice and chocolates and honey taffy, that's what it felt like. More than 650 pages of fiction and history and biographical accounts of life on the sea or under it or in fear of it.
A sailor's wages are always what he gets, not what he earns.
Beginning with William Strachey's 1609 letter about a shipwreck and ending centuries later with John McPhee's lament about daily oceanic sinkings, the selections are varied and never boring. There's poetry intermingled with the stories, providing a meditative pace for the reader. This is not a book to be rushed.
For six days on that glassy, sizzling sea, the rafts did not seem to move.
So much to choose, so much to love.
The Death of Sergeant Alex by Eddie Rickenbacker, the great American hero of WWI, describes the floating horror he found himself in when his WWII scouting plane ran out of fuel over the pacific and the survivors endured 22 days of hell.
From Sail To Steam by Alfred Thayer Mahan is the history of the United States naval world just as modern shipbuilding was revolutionizing the world.
The Big Sea by Langston Hughes, his memoir of life as a merchant marine, including the horror of the Congo state and racism at sea.
Betrayed by James H. Williams, a true tale of his being shanghaied and then betrayed while trying to escape.
Mark Twain. Ernest Hemingway. Walt Whitman. Oliver Wendall Holmes. You see? Candy store.
I loved James Fenimore Cooper's, The Pilot. I loved John Ledyard's A Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage. I loved Barry Lopez's A Presentation of Whales.
If you love sailing or just looking at the waves, this is a permanent addition to the maritime bookshelf. Treasure can be found in landlubber's libraries, too.
Book Season = Year Round (misty curtains of silver vapour)
Really, this book was just a candy store. Licorice and chocolates and honey taffy, that's what it felt like. More than 650 pages of fiction and history and biographical accounts of life on the sea or under it or in fear of it.
A sailor's wages are always what he gets, not what he earns.
Beginning with William Strachey's 1609 letter about a shipwreck and ending centuries later with John McPhee's lament about daily oceanic sinkings, the selections are varied and never boring. There's poetry intermingled with the stories, providing a meditative pace for the reader. This is not a book to be rushed.
For six days on that glassy, sizzling sea, the rafts did not seem to move.
So much to choose, so much to love.
The Death of Sergeant Alex by Eddie Rickenbacker, the great American hero of WWI, describes the floating horror he found himself in when his WWII scouting plane ran out of fuel over the pacific and the survivors endured 22 days of hell.
From Sail To Steam by Alfred Thayer Mahan is the history of the United States naval world just as modern shipbuilding was revolutionizing the world.
The Big Sea by Langston Hughes, his memoir of life as a merchant marine, including the horror of the Congo state and racism at sea.
Betrayed by James H. Williams, a true tale of his being shanghaied and then betrayed while trying to escape.
Mark Twain. Ernest Hemingway. Walt Whitman. Oliver Wendall Holmes. You see? Candy store.
I loved James Fenimore Cooper's, The Pilot. I loved John Ledyard's A Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage. I loved Barry Lopez's A Presentation of Whales.
If you love sailing or just looking at the waves, this is a permanent addition to the maritime bookshelf. Treasure can be found in landlubber's libraries, too.
Book Season = Year Round (misty curtains of silver vapour)
February 4, 2022
Another first-rate anthology from the Library of America. It features a wide range of superb American writings about the sea--everyone from James Fenimore Cooper to Herman Melville to Stephen Crane, whose classic story, "The Open Boat," is one of the best American short stories I've ever read. The chapter from Henry Beston's "The Outermost House" prompted me to read Beston's entire book, which I loved from start to finish. You get the drift (pun intended).
June 29, 2019
Sections of several Sea Stories, by both well known authors and lessor known. Reading them brings back memories of the whole books. John Whidder not one, which prompted my search. But also by authors I did not know wrote sea stories. Eddie Rickenbacker, for one "7 Came Thru" which I intend to find.
May 27, 2025
This featured a lot more excerpts of larger books than most of the other Library of America anthologies I've read before. Several of the entries, especially early ones, were very similar and not particularly interesting. The standout entries were very good though, and I especially liked it once it got more science oriented in the back half.
December 31, 2022
A phenomenally-wonderful journey through time, style, and sentiment, chock-full of excellent writings about American seagoing reasons and experiences.
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December 28, 2016I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
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June 9, 2015
Interesting collection of sea/beach/sailing literature--fiction, poetry, history, biography, science. Grab bag arranged in chronological order is fast reading that can inspire, frighten, enlighten, amuse, and encourage.
January 13, 2015
The editors did a really good job of combining famous with lesser known authors. This will keep me busy for a while reading books that some of the selections are taken from.
June 23, 2016
SOME OF THE SHORT STORIES ON WRITING-EXCELLENT-SHOULD BUY BOOK-WANT TO GO BACK TO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN-I CAN HEAR THE OCEAN EVEN INLAND...
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews