The Great Sea A Human History of the Mediterranean by Abulafia, David - 2011

Oxford University Press. Very Good in Fine dust jacket. 2011. Third Printing. Hardcover. 0195323343 . This specific hardback book is in very good condition with some minor wear to the cover or edges and corners but with a hard board cover that has a tight binding. The pages are clean, crisp, unmarked and uncreased with the main fault of this otherwise like new book being the previous owner's information written on the first end page. The dust jacket is in very good condition with some cover or edge wear. We package all books in custom cardboard book boxes for shipment and ship daily with tracking numbers.; "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."; 9.3 X 6.6 X 2.4 inches; 784 pages .