Atlantic Studies: Prospects and Challenges by William Boelhower

Abstract

Reviewed by: Atlantic Studies: Prospects and Challenges by William Boelhower Niels Eichhorn Atlantic Studies: Prospects and Challenges. By William Boelhower. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2019. Pp. xiv, 294. Paper, $35.00, ISBN 978-0-8071-7294-0; cloth, $80.00, ISBN 978-0-8071-7163-9.) Bernard Bailyn has observed about Atlantic history "that certain historians have found [the subject] strange, that others have said [it] does not exist and if it does exist it shouldn't, [and] that at best [it] has no easy or clear definition" (Atlantic History: Concept and Contours [Cambridge, Mass., 2005], p. 3). In contrast, William Boelhower asks us to move beyond the narrow confines of Atlantic history and embrace an interdisciplinary approach to the Atlantic world that he claims has yielded extraordinary results and promises a much better understanding of the complexities of the region. He specifically argues that geography and maps offer some important overlooked insights. Boelhower divides the book into three parts that address the change from Atlantic history to Atlantic studies, demonstrate with examples how different disciplines can clarify much better the complex nature of the Atlantic world, and finally show why maps are an important and overlooked source. While much of Boelhower's critique of Atlantic history centers on its limited methodological use of sources, he also challenges with case studies in Part 2 the chronological boundaries often associated with Atlantic history. Illustrating the interdisciplinary approach, Boelhower introduces Frederick Douglass's novella The Heroic Slave (1852) to demonstrate how Douglass's fictional retelling of Madison Washington's journey was inspired by the events on board the Creole and how it represents Douglass's own journey through freedom and brief crossing of the Atlantic to Great Britain. The heart of Boelhower's critique is the reminder that the study of cartography offers significant insights. After presenting readers with three early Atlantic world maps, Boelhower shows how these maps illustrate European land claims and provide a visualization of how Europeans stereotyped Native peoples in the Americas as cannibals and hut dwellers. Boelhower's book raises important questions about the study of the Atlantic world. Where historians at times obsess about the chronological end date, Boelhower ignores this debate and includes nineteenth-century figures, such as Douglass, to remind readers that the Atlantic world did not end. At the same time, Boelhower's work is an important reminder that the early Atlantic world was part of a globalized world and that to draw a line between the Atlantic world and global history is counterproductive. The book could have benefited from some more clarification, such as chronology. While Boelhower's suggestion to use maps in Atlantic studies and to interrogate them more closely is important, this perspective raises a few questions. By studying maps, are we risking giving significant attention to civilizations that engaged in mapmaking? Certainly, maps can tell us how Europeans viewed Indigenous people, but they do not tell us how Indigenous people viewed Europeans. At the same time, the [End Page 367] suggestion to reach into literature and literary studies, as well as other language material, is an important reminder of the interdisciplinary benefits not just for the study of the Atlantic world. Boelhower gives scholars much to think about in his book and points out some interesting avenues to take Atlantic studies toward, especially liberating it from the narrow chronological confines of Atlantic history. There are still many stories to be told, and in some cases, the boundaries between the Atlantic world and the rest of the world will continue to blur. Niels Eichhorn New Mexico Junior College Copyright © 2022 The Southern Historical Association