A true story of the battered life of a foremast crewman, Two Years Before the Mast is Richard Henry Dana’s classic travel narrative, which inspired canonical works such as Moby Dick and Sailing Alone Around the World. As Rod Scher follows Dana (the Harvard dropout-turned-sailor) on his voyages around North America, he annotates Dana’s tale with critiques, tie-ins to today, and little-known facts about both the book and the milieu of Dana’s time.
Two years before the mast were but an episode in the life of Richard Henry Dana, Jr.; yet the narrative in which he details the experiences of that period is, perhaps, his chief claim to a wide remembrance. His services in other than literary fields occupied the greater part of his life, but they brought him comparatively small recognition and many disappointments. His happiest associations were literary, his pleasantest acquaintanceships those which arose through his fame as the author of one book. The story of his life is one of honest and competent effort, of sincere purpose, of many thwarted hopes. The traditions of his family forced him into a profession for which he was intellectually but not temperamentally fitted: he should have been a scholar, teacher, and author; instead he became a lawyer.
In Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., presents a narrative of his two years as a sailor aboard the Pilgrim, trading on the coast of California. He describes the sailor's life in the early days of shipping, as well as life in California before the gold rush. His eyesight impaired by measles, Dana left Harvard University to take a voyage during his convalescence--but as a sailor rather than passenger. Upon his return, he published his narrative of that sea journey. The book consists of thirty-seven chapters, most of them subdivided into journal entries written on particular days of interest. The concluding chapter, written some time later, suggests reforms to remedy the injustices of sailors' lives.Dana begins on the day of sailing, August 14, 1834, on the brig Pilgrim. The ship was bound for the West Coast of North America from Boston. His first impression of the ship was negative. The captain described himself to the crew as "clever," but "a bloody rascal" when crossed. The narrative follows the daily life and hardships of the sailors on the journey around Cape Horn. Dana describes memorable experiences such as the sighting of albatrosses, dolphins, and whales. He also shares much technical knowledge about the ship itself. Arriving at the California coast, the vessel anchored in the bay of Santa Barbara. Dana describes the coast of California and its inhabitants. The brig engaged in trading, traveling up the coast to Monterey and back down to San Pedro and San Diego.
With Harriet Tubman as her guide, Cassie retraces the steps escaping slaves took on the Underground Railroad in order to reunite with her younger brother.
In 1850 a sailing vessel was wrecked on the California coast with a rich cargo of Chinese goods bound for the Gold Rush. This book uses the fate of the vessel for a dual purpose: to tell the story of the beginnings of direct commerce between China and California and to explore the potential of contextual archaeology by tracing the cargo back to its origins in China.
Presents a selection of Poe's tales and poems with in-depth marginal notes elucidating his sources, obscure words and passages, and literary, biographical, and historical allusions.
California matters, both as a place and as an idea. What famed historian Kevin Starr has called "the California Dream" is a vital part of American self-understanding. Just as America was meant to be a place of renewal, even redemption, for Europe, so too California was intended as a place of renewal for America. Therefore, California--place and idea--provides a fertile ground for scholars to think deeply about what it means to articulate "the promise of American life." This book follows in the train of George Marsden's classic The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship--believing that people of faith have a contribution to make to scholarship--and of Jay Green's more recent book, Christian Historiography: Five Rival Views--believing that scholars of faith should engage in moral inquiry. In this book, eight authors inquire into the moral questions that emerge from studying California.
