“An original, engaging, witty, and, yes, important study of seafarers and their struggle for improved working conditions. . . . This is truly an important book, and a well-written one.” — Sea History
“Fink helps us think about the historical roots of these limitations as we strive, as citizens as well as historians, to shape a more humane world.” — Journal of American History
“A professional piece of work and a contribution to the field.” — Labor
“This book stands as a very successful model of global history.” — The Historian
“[Fink] writes with grace, humor and wit, and deftly skewers the academic jargon so many maritime historians use. . . . A polished academic work that will feature prominently at seminar tables and the bookshelves of the learned public as well.” — Sea History
“A meaningful contribution to labor and maritime history. . . . The future of maritime workers is hard to see. Their past, however, has never been so clear.” — Journal of World History
“[This book] does an excellent job of exploring the tensions between maritime matters as part of a decidedly national project but composed of globalized, transnational workers.” — Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
“Social historians of the sea will find much in this monograph with which to engage.” — International Journal of Maritime History
“Anyone studying the often romanticized, but realistically complex and difficult world of seafarers, needs to start with this book. It lays a fine framework from which to begin such a study.” — The Journal of the North Carolina Association of Historians
“A history that is both a detailed and specific account of a particular labour force, and simultaneously an account of the changes that have transformed the maritime working world over the past 200 years. It is an exemplary study.” — Labour History
