Modern history

Oil and Ice: A Story of Arctic Disaster and the Rise and Fall of America's Last Whaling Dynasty

Oil and Ice: A Story of Arctic Disaster and the Rise and Fall of America's Last Whaling Dynasty

In 1871, America's last fleet of whaling ships was destroyed in an arctic ice storm. Miraculously, 1,218 men, women and children survived, but the disaster was catastrophic at home. "Oil and Ice" is the story of one fateful whaling season that illuminates the unprecedented rise and devastating fall of America's first oil economy, and the fate of today's petroleum industry.

Chapter 1. Alaska, June 1871

Chapter 2. “The Dearest Place in All New England”

Chapter 3. A Nursery and a Kindergarten

Chapter 4. The Crucible of Deviancy

Chapter 5. The Killing Floes

Chapter 6. The Nantucket Paradigm

Chapter 7. “Well Cut Up”

Chapter 8. The Newer Bedford

Chapter 9. Neither Land nor Sea nor Air

Chapter 10. The Profits of Asceticism

Chapter 11. The Ships and the Men

Chapter 12. Old Lights and New

Chapter 13. Frequent Visitors

Chapter 14. Paradigm Shift

Chapter 15. “Our Dreadful Situation”

Chapter 16. Abandonment

Chapter 17. Aftermath

Chapter 18. “How Hard It Is to Rise, When You’re Really, Truly Down”

Epilogue 1

Epilogue 2

Sources

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