| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.5

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 225 words from this article are provided below; about 546 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Comparative/World

Helen M. Rozwadowski. Fathoming the Ocean: The Discovery and Exploration of the Deep Sea. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005. Pp. xii, 276. $25.95.

According to Helen M. Rozwadowski, profound mid-nineteenth century cultural and technological changes transformed the sea from an obstacle to be crossed, feared, or simply avoided into a familiar, picturesque space to be explored and possessed. The Victorian age that made Moby Dick (1851) and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea (1870) possible also witnessed the "discovery" and exploration of the deep sea. Nineteenth-century imperialism, telegraphy, whaling, and yachting were largely responsible for these developments. In the Anglo-American Victorian imagination, the deep sea became a new frontier: virgin territory to be penetrated or unveiled. But Rozwadowski is not really interested in exploring the gendered and colonial dimensions of the Victorian imaginings of the sea. This is a history of the technological (sounding and dredging devices, steam engines), economic (shipping, submarine telegraphy), social (yachting), and political (state patronage) forces that allowed a handful of nineteenth-century Anglo-American scientists to reach the bottom of the sea. One should not underestimate the challenges these scientists faced, for it turned out that the bottom was hundreds of miles deep. Was there anything worth studying at such depths? Rozwadowski offers a fascinating account of how patrons and scientists answered this question.

. . .

There are about 546 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.