Barons of the Sea

Reviews

“Full of remarkable characters and incredible stories, Steven Ujifusa’s Barons of the Sea is a fascinating, fast-paced history of America’s clipper ship era. Highly recommended.” 
— Nathaniel Philbrick, National Book Award-winning author of In the Heart of the Sea “Barons of the Sea moves as fast as a clipper ship at full sail. With a seemingly effortless command of the shared history of China and the United States in the nineteenth century, Ujifusa takes the reader on a rare and intoxicating journey back in time.” 
— Candice Millard, bestselling author of Hero of the Empire   “Barons of the Sea is a riveting, raucous book. If you love the sea, it’s all here: dreams, money, ambition, and competition.” 
— Jay Winik, bestselling author of April 1865   “As learned as it is entertaining. Ujifusa has brought the golden age of American maritime commerce to vivid life. Extraordinary people and the wondrous clipper ships they built fill its pages with both great stories and deep insight into what makes humans of any age tick.”
— John Steele Gordon, author of An Empire of Wealth “Barons of the Sea has the... narrative ease of a novel. Occasionally funny and always richly detailed, this book paints a comprehensive portrait of an American era all but forgotten in the days of next-day delivery.”
— Sail Magazine “This crisply told story of the race to build the fastest ship in the world reads like a thriller, reminiscent of the best of Nathanial Philbrick’s sea writing. It carries the reader along like a precious cargo on the high seas. I simply could not put it down.”
— Admiral James Stavridis, Chairman of the US Naval Institute and former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO “Fast-paced and entrancing... recounting freak storms, improbable romances, and mutinies on the high seas.... Ujifusa tells these stories with the verve of a natural dramatist.... Masterfully done.”
— The Christian Science Monitor “Among the pleasures of Barons of the Sea is the author’s extensive knowledge of ship design and nautical history; the book is almost a beginner’s manual in sailing and is infused by a clear love for the regal triple-masters of the past.... The ships themselves, rather than the owners and captains, become the main characters.”
— The Wall Street Journal “Barons of the Sea captures both the majesty of clipper ships and the heart of the bold men who wanted to see them go faster and carry more. This story of ambition, innovation, and technology in the age of swift-sailing merchant ships will keep you enthralled.”
— Dean King, bestselling author of Skeletons on the Zahara “Brilliantly chronicled.... A vivid account of larger-than-life if not always attractive characters and a technological marvel that briefly captivated the Victorian world.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Historian Samuel Eliot Morison called them ‘the noblest of all sailing vessels, and the most beautiful creations of man in America.’ But to that select group of merchants and shipmasters who employed the clipper ships in the China trade, they were also the source of vast profits — and sometimes catastrophic losses. In this deeply researched and boldly drawn account of the rise and fall of the clipper ship, Steven Ujifusa sheds dramatic new light on the lives, aspirations, and moral dilemmas of those daring Americans who traded with China in the opening decades of the nineteenth century.”
— Llewellyn Howland III, author of No Ordinary Being: W. Starling Burgess, Inventor, Naval Architect, Aviation Pioneer, and Master of American Design “Chronicles an age of technological innovation, sharp competition, and the rise of new fortunes.”
— Harvard Magazine “Ujifusa reconstructs the lavish social milieu of Yankee shipping magnates in this account of how clipper ships unlocked a new world of risk and riches in the mid-19th century.... This tale of industry will appeal to seafaring and commerce enthusiasts.”
— Publishers Weekly “By casting new light on major players, Steven Ujifusa has illuminated a long-overlooked facet of the clipper era.”
— W.H. Bunting, author of Live Yankees: The Sewalls and Their Ships and Sea Struck Expand reviews