‘Variably genial, cautionary, lyrical, admonitory, terrifying, horrifying and inspiring…A lifetime of thought, travel, reading, imagination and memory inform this affecting account.’ -Kirkus Evaluations (starred review)

Blending history and anecdote, geography and reminiscence, science and exposition, NY Times bestselling article writer Simon Winchester tells the breathtaking saga of the Atlantic Ocean. A gifted storyteller and consummate historian, Winchester pieces the fantastic blue sea’s epic narrative against the background of mankind’s intellectual advancement, telling not merely the story of the ocean, but the story of civilization. Followers of Winchester’s Krakatoa, THE PERSON Who Loved China, and The Professor as well as the Madman will love this masterful, penetrating, and resonant story of humanity acquiring its way across the ocean of background.