Connecting Europe, Asia, and Africa, the Mediterranean Sea has been for millennia the place where religions, economies, and political systems met, clashed, influenced and absorbed one another. In this brilliant and expansive book, David Abulafia offers a fresh perspective by focusing on the sea itself: its practical importance for transport and sustenance; its dynamic role in the rise and fall of empires; and the remarkable cast of characters-sailors, merchants, migrants, pirates, pilgrims-who have crossed and re-crossed it. Ranging from prehistory to the 21st century, The Great Sea is above all a history of human interaction. Interweaving major political and naval developments with the ebb and flow of trade, Abulafia explores how commercial competition in the Mediterranean created both rivalries and partnerships, with merchants acting as intermediaries between cultures, trading goods that were as exotic on one side of the sea as they were commonplace on the other. He stresses the remarkable ability of Mediterranean cultures to uphold the civilizing ideal of convivencia, "living together." Now available in paperback, The Great Sea is the definitive account of perhaps the most vibrant theater of human interaction in history.

Joseph Lewis French (1858-1936) was a novelist, editor, poet and newspaper man. He was the author of Christ in Sacred Art (1901) and the editor of: Great Sea Stories (1921), Great Pirate Stories (1922), Thrilling Escapes (1924), Sixty Years of American Humor (1924), Sagas of the Seas by American Writers (1924), The Pioneer West (1924), Lotus and Chrysanthemum: Chinese and Japanese Poetry (1927), Wings Over the World (1931), Gray Shadows (1931) and Conquerors of the Sky (1932). He also edited the four volume collection Masterpieces of Mystery (1920) which included Ghost Stories, Riddle Stories, Detective Stories and Mystic-Humorous Stories.

"Variably genial, cautionary, lyrical, admonitory, terrifying, horrifying and inspiring…A lifetime of thought, travel, reading, imagination and memory inform this affecting account." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Blending history and anecdote, geography and reminiscence, science and exposition, New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester tells the breathtaking saga of the Atlantic Ocean. A gifted storyteller and consummate historian, Winchester sets the great blue sea's epic narrative against the backdrop of mankind's intellectual evolution, telling not only the story of an ocean, but the story of civilization. Fans of Winchester's Krakatoa, The Man Who Loved China, and The Professor and the Madman will love this masterful, penetrating, and resonant tale of humanity finding its way across the ocean of history.

Following the success of his #1 New York Times bestseller Make Your Bed, which has sold over one million copies, Admiral William H. McRaven is back with amazing stories of bravery and heroism during his career as a Navy SEAL and commander of America's Special Operations Forces. Admiral William H. McRaven is a part of American military history, having been involved in some of the most famous missions in recent memory, including the capture of Saddam Hussein, the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, and the raid to kill Osama bin Laden. Sea Stories begins in 1963 at a French Officers' Club in France, where Allied officers and their wives gathered to have drinks and tell stories about their adventures during World War II-the place where a young Bill McRaven learned the value of a good story. Sea Stories is an unforgettable look back on one man's incredible life, from childhood days sneaking into high-security military sites to a day job of hunting terrorists and rescuing hostages. Action-packed, humorous, and full of valuable life lessons like those exemplified in McRaven's bestselling Make Your Bed, Sea Stories is a remarkable memoir from one of America's most accomplished leaders.

"The theme of the sea is heroic--epic. Since the first stirrings of the imagination of man the sea has enthralled him; and since the dawn of literature he has chronicled his wanderings upon its vast bosom." Joseph Lewis French collected what he considered the best sea stories of literature into this volume.

Das wohl größte Unglück der modernen Schifffahrt, der Zusammenstoß der Titanic mit einem Eisberg im Nordatlantik im Jahre 1912, ist beispiellos in der Geschichte. Diese Kathastrophe, bei der weit mehr als die Hälfte der Passagiere den Tod fanden, hinterließ Fragen und Zweifel, aber auch ein Apell an Konstrukteure und Kapitäne. Denn wäre etwas weniger Größenwahn und Leichtsinn und mehr Vorsicht und Respekt vor dem Meer und seinen Tücken Antrieb für die Fahrt der Titanic gewesen, sie hätte Amerika planmäßig erreichen können. Das vorliegende Buch von Logan Marshall enthält spannende Geschichten über dieses Unglück wie auch weiterer Schiffsunglücke, welche ungemein packend und authentisch erzählt sind und somit bis heute interessantes Lesematerial darstellen. Hierbei handelt es sich um eine englischsprachige Ausgabe.

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The massive destruction wreaked by the Hurricane of 1938 dwarfed that of the Chicago Fire, the San Francisco Earthquake, and the Mississippi floods of 1927, making the storm the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. Now, R.A. Scotti tells the story.