Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 387.544
EAN num: 9780865475816
ISBN number: 0865475814
Label: North Point Press
Manufacturer: North Point Press
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 256
Printing Date: May 12, 2004
Publishing house: North Point Press
Sale Popularity Level: 529556
Studio: North Point Press
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Riveting stories of our last frontier and the acts of God and man upon it
Even if we live within sight of the sea, it is easy to forget that our world is an ocean world. The open ocean--that vast expanse of international waters--begins just a few miles out and spreads across three-fourths of the globe. It is a place of storms and danger, both natural and manmade. And at a time when every last patch of land is claimed by one government or another, it is a place that remains radically free.
With typically understated lyricism, William Langewiesche explores this ocean world and the enterprises--licit and illicit--that flourish in the privacy afforded by its horizons. Forty-three thousand gargantuan ships ply the open ocean, carrying nearly all the raw materials and products on which our lives are built. Many are owned or managed by one-ship companies so ghostly that they exist only on paper. They are the embodiment of modern global capital and the most independent objects on earth--many of them without allegiances of any kind, changing identity and nationality at will. Here is free enterprise at its freest, opportunity taken to extremes. But its efficiencies are accompanied by global problems--shipwrecks and pollution, the hard lives and deaths of the crews, and the growth of two perfectly adapted pathogens: a modern and sophisticated strain of piracy and its close cousin, the maritime form of the new stateless terrorism.
This is the outlaw sea--perennially defiant and untamable--that Langewiesche brings startlingly into view. The ocean is our world, he reminds us, and it is wild.
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Rated by buyers 
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Description of this book did not live up to the actual writing. not very memorable
Rated by buyers -
The sea covers most of the world's surface area. Most people have a passing knowledge of the sea's history, of pirates and hidden treasure. Langewiesche's book brings up the modern issues the sea presents to the world and the different countries that border it.
The overarching theme of the book is that no matter what humans do, the sea cannot be tamed. Langewiesche's book is divided into different vignettes that inform the reader of the many different issues of the sea. All are impeccably researched and written. The most interesting to me was the final section on shipbreaking. I had no idea of the work and loss of human life involved in reducing a ship to scrap.
This is a great book to give to anyone who wants to know more about how the sea figures into our modern existence.
Rated by buyers -
Sea stories have long been among my favorite subjects. The Outlaw Sea was a title I ran across by happenstance, and I'm very glad of this. It is a very interesting book, and presents a well-documented set of facts. After reading this, I do not see myself riding any cruise boats. I'm going by airplane!
Rated by buyers 
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I cant wait for the great wars of the sea. This book was a great read about the current state of the sea. Can't help but make me think its the place for me. Sound like a fun game of cat and mouse. I wounder what its like to be a repo man of the sea.
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The book as a whole provides a detailed and engaging sense of the lawlessness and disorder that takes place on the ocean and near its coasts. The stories are based on current events and add a great deal of drama to his investigative writing. Its the kind of book I was eager to discuss with my friends and family after reading each chapter. As an ocean lover, but not a frequent sailor, its a great find and gives a rarely told perspective on what actually takes place with the world's ships. The threats of terrorism, piracy, the difficulties of scrapping ships, and the contrast of the way governments try to regulate the ocean with the practical realities of the ocean are thought provoking and fascinating. What a pleasure this book was!
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