Reviewed by: The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History by John S. Sledge Della Scott-Ireton The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History. By John S. Sledge. Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press, 2019. Xii, 243 pp. $29.99. ISBN 978-1-6433-6014-0. John Sledge's The Gulf of Mexico: A Maritime History is an expansive, rolling, rollicking ride through the history and heritage of the Gulf. As Sledge points out, the Gulf of Mexico, despite its position as the maritime crossroads of the Western Hemisphere, has been the [End Page 373] subject of relatively few scholarly or popular treatments of its history and role in the shaping of our modern world. This volume helps to fill that niche, and if it does not delve as deeply into particular aspects as one might wish, it certainly covers the broad expanse of the places, people, vessels, tragedies, and triumphs that have taken place on, as Sledge says, the "American Mediterranean." The book is organized in a logical, chronological progression, and makes a point of circumnavigating and crossing the Gulf, with near-equal attention on the U.S. states, Mexican coast, and island of Cuba that form its perimeter. Sledge's home port of Mobile is well-represented, focusing attention on a maritime community that often is overshadowed, in literature and media, by New Orleans. Sledge starts his journey with the earliest users of the Gulf, the Indigenous peoples who ringed its shores, extracted its resources, traveled and traded on its waters, and respected its violent storms. Spanish and other European explorers join the story, with their tales of exploitation, violence, and, usually, disaster for all involved. A section on the Gulf's position as a colonial highway for fleets of settlers, slavers, adventurers, and "treasure" ships leads to an entire fascinating chapter on the pirates and freebooters who preyed on those fleets, an element of Gulf history often overlooked or conflated with Caribbean exploits. The development of Gulf ports as a result of the cotton trade, which brought the region attendant growth in wealth and importance during the nineteenth century, sets the stage for a chapter describing the resulting maritime conflicts among clashing nations that focused on the Gulf, from minor squabbles to the only blue-water battle of the American Civil War. The shift from conflict to constructive use of the Gulf is a prevailing theme as Sledge discusses the mapping of the benthic Gulf basin, the expansion of once-local industries like fishing and sponging, the coastal community's response to Prohibition, the growth of tourism, and shipping innovations in capacity and containers. The final chapter brings readers to the present, with a thoughtful reflection on the petroleum industry's focus on the Gulf, with its economic benefits [End Page 374] and appalling ecological consequences as exemplified by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. An epilogue focusing on the story of a beached historic shipwreck neatly wraps up the epic, exciting, and occasionally melancholy heritage of the Gulf of Mexico. The bibliography shows the wide variety of Sledge's research and sources, ranging from academic theses and dissertations to published classics and obscure articles, as well as websites and popular works, and provides many ideas for additional reading. Illustrations, including some lavish color plates, are useful and whet the appetite for more. The book's relaxed style and easy prose make for an enjoyable read. Like Sledge, I have deep personal roots in the region, and I appreciated his constant return to the story of people in the little beach towns and major port cities who make up the unique Gulf Coast cultural gumbo. As a maritime archaeologist with a career focused on the Gulf of Mexico and insider knowledge of the research conducted on everything from Native American watercraft to Spanish colonization vessels to the U.S.'s oldest existing battleship, I admit I would have liked more integration of the abundant, available archaeological data into the historical description. Some important issues, such as slavery and race relations, receive a relatively shallow treatment, and the historian in me wanted more nuanced detail, such as an acknowledgement of Apalachicola as one of the Gulf's busiest and...
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