Charlie's review of Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea
Two Years Before the Mast: A Personal Narrative of Life at Sea (Modern Library Classics) by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.
I read this book because I was looking for insight on what California was like 180 years ago. However, I found myself really enjoying the stories of life on the high seas as well. I was fascinated with the amazingly dangerous, rough, and sometimes beautiful life of a sailor in the time of tall ships.
In the 1830s, California was a backwater... the mission system was coming to an end, indigenous people in the area had already been torn from their land, and excessively cattle were quickly stripping much of the native vegetation from the land. However, many things were the same - the treeless hills behind Santa Barbara, the sheltered harbor of Monterey, the long, dry, dusty summers. In fact, Dana returns to California in the late 1850s after the gold rush and comments that the only thing that is the same as when he first visited the shores was the howling of coyotes which are largely unaffected by man. If Dana would return he would find that again, of the old California, Coyote...more
In the 1830s, California was a backwater... the mission system was coming to an end, indigenous people in the area had already been torn from their land, and excessively cattle were quickly stripping much of the native vegetation from the land. However, many things were the same - the treeless hills behind Santa Barbara, the sheltered harbor of Monterey, the long, dry, dusty summers. In fact, Dana returns to California in the late 1850s after the gold rush and comments that the only thing that is the same as when he first visited the shores was the howling of coyotes which are largely unaffected by man. If Dana would return he would find that again, of the old California, Coyote...more
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