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Phillip Drennon Thomas, America's Ocean Wilderness: A Cultural History of Twentieth-Century Exploration. By Gary Kroll. (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2008. xii, 249 pp. $34.95, ISBN 978-0-7006-1567-4.), Journal of American History, Volume 96, Issue 1, June 2009, Page 297, https://doi.org/10.2307/27694878
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This engaging, well-written, interpretive work seeks to extend the concept of the American West as a frontier to the ocean as a frontier. Then, by examining the careers, accomplishments, and activities of ocean explorers, scientists, and naturalist, Gary Kroll wants to show how that concept shaped American perception and utilization of the world's oceans in the twentieth century. He demonstrates an intimate and profound appreciation for the diverse sources necessary for the development of such a history. It is not a history of oceanography, nor does it claim to be. The
central thesis of this book is that the ocean in the twentieth century imagination took on many characteristics that were typically associated with frontier territories: a trove of inexhaustible resources, an area to be conserved for industrial capitalism, a fragile ecosystem requiring stewardship and protection from “civilizing” forces, a geography for sport, a space for recreation, and a seascape of inspiration. (p. 7)
