| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 105.5

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 105.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Wayne M. O'Leary. Maine Sea Fisheries: The Rise and Fall of a Native Industry, 1830–1890. Boston: Northeastern University Press. 1998. Pp. xii, 391. Cloth $55.00, paper $24.95.

Whether one is interested in the differences between cod and mackerel, the risks and rewards of fishing, the effects of government assistance, the changing food tastes of the general population, the high cost and unforeseen consequences of technological innovation, the influence of geography on an industry, or the lives of fishermen and merchants, Wayne M. O'Leary has written a must-read book. It is a reminder of how satisfying well researched and written history can be. 1

Dried and pickled cod provided the rapidly growing urban population of mid-nineteenth-century America with a cheap source of protein and enabled a hitherto regional activity to gain a foothold into the national economy. How fragile and short-lived this connection proved to be is the focus of O'Leary's work. Cost inflation of the Civil War years and the end of a state fishing bounty combined to eliminate most small operators scattered along the Maine coast and concentrate the industry in the hands of large merchant firms located in a few ports. Consolidation was further encouraged by revolutionary changes (dories and trawls and purse seines) that allowed more fish to be caught in less time but at a significantly higher cost. . . .

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