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The Reef

The Reef

A Passionate History

by Iain McCalman
Hardback
Publication Date: 23/10/2013

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$45.00
Iain McCalman's brilliant history of the Great Barrier Reef, told in twelve extraordinary tales, charts its shifting status from labyrinth of terror to global treasure. Equal parts gifted storyteller and acclaimed historian, McCalman brings to life the people who've shaped our knowledge and perception of this World Heritage-listed site. Arguing that the Barrier Reef is a product of human as much as natural history, created by minds as well as corals, McCalman describes encounters between peoples and places, ideas and environments, over the past two centuries and more. Where today the Reef is known for its astonishing underwater beauty and diversity, once it was notorious for the shipwrecks in its treacherous waters. Navigators struggled to chart a safe passage through, and scientists later theorised about the creation of this massive structure - the largest marine environment on the planet. Quixotic individuals spent years sailing the globe for an answer, and the fiery debate between Darwinists and creationists caught the world's attention.
Then came successive waves of resource hunters and exploiters, followed by beachcombers and artists who fought to stop them, and the marine specialists who first became aware of the threats to the Reef's survival. In between, the Indigenous peoples of the Reef gave succour to castaways like Eliza Fraser, and were then vilified for it. Other survivors of shipwrecks lived for years with the clans of the region, were adopted by them and taught their traditional ways of life. The first social, cultural and environmental history to be written of the Great Barrier Reef, The Reef is an effortlessly readable and often moving story of one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
ISBN:
9780670075775
9780670075775
Category:
The Earth: natural history general
Format:
Hardback
Publication Date:
23-10-2013
Publisher:
PENGUIN BOOKS AUSTRALIA
Country of origin:
Australia
Pages:
408
Dimensions (mm):
240x160x41mm
Weight:
0.79kg
Iain McCalman

Iain McCalman is a historian with a strong sense of how narrative transforms us. His most recent books are Darwin's Armada (2009) and The Reef- A Passionate History (2013), both highly acclaimed and prizewinning. Iain has recently retired from academic life. He was Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Sydney Environment Institute at the University of Sydney.

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