To rule the waves : how control of the world's oceans shapes the fate of the superpowers / Bruce D. Jones.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jones, Bruce D., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shipping--History.

Shipping.

History.

Sea-power--History.

Sea-power.

World politics.

Power (Social sciences).

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

viii, 389 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Scribner hardcover edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2021.

Summary:

"For centuries, oceans were the chessboard on which empires battled for dominance. But in the nuclear age, air power and missile systems dominated our worries about security, and for the United States, the economy was largely driven by domestic production, with trucking and railways that crisscrossed the continent the primary modes of commercial transit. All that has changed, as nine-tenths of global commerce and the bulk of energy trade is today linked to sea-based flows. A brightly-painted 40-foot steel shipping container loaded in Asia with twenty tons of goods may arrive literally anywhere else in the world; how that really happens and who actually profits by it show that the struggle for power on the seas is a critical issue today. Now, in bright, closely observed prose, To Rule the Waves author Bruce Jones conducts us on a fascinating voyage through the great modern ports and naval bases of this era-from the vast container ports of Shanghai and Hong Kong to the vital naval base of the American 7th fleet in Hawaii to the sophisticated security arrangements in the port of New York. Along the way, the book illustrates how global commerce works, that we are amidst a global naval arms race, and why the oceans are so crucial to America's standing going forward. As Jones reveals, the three great geopolitical struggles of our time-for military power, for economic dominance, and over our changing climate-are playing out atop, within, and below the world's oceans. The essential question, he shows, is this: who will rule the waves and set the terms of the world to come?"-- Provided by publisher.

For centuries, oceans were the chessboard on which empires battled for dominance. In the nuclear age, air power and missile systems dominated our worries about security, and for the United States, the economy was largely driven by domestic production, with trucking and railways that crisscrossed the continent the primary modes of commercial transit. Now nine-tenths of global commerce and the bulk of energy trade is today linked to sea-based flows. Jones conducts us on a fascinating voyage through the great modern ports and naval bases of this era, showing how global commerce works-- and why the oceans are so crucial to America;s standing going forward. -- adapted from jacket

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: pt. I News from the Future

1. Secrets of the High North - Norway; the Arctic Circle

2. The Outer Perimeter; or, Pushing the American Border Out - The Port of New York; Elizabeth, New Jersey

3. Charting Today's World - Carcavelos, Portugal

pt. II To Contain the World - 1956-2017

4. Western Tide Rising - Copenhagen

5. Taipans of Globalization - Hong Kong

6. The Great Closing - The Port of Shanghai

7. Global Supply Ships - Voyage of the Madrid Maersk

pt. III The Flag Follows the Trade

8. Pirates of the Twenty-First Century - Changi Naval Base, Singapore; and Zanzibar

9. The Near Seas - Zhongnanhai Palace, Beijing

10. Americas Lake - On the USS John Paul Jones

11. To Conquer the Seas

pt. IV The Power of the Seas

12. The Salt of the Oceans - Houston Oil Terminal, Texas

13. Oceanography and Power - Scripps Institute for Oceanography, La Jolla, California

14. Hot Waters Rising - Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Jones, Bruce D. To rule the waves

ISBN:

9781982127251

1982127252

OCLC:

1260173499

Publisher Number:

99988677955