Ellen Marie Krefting, Gard Paulsen
The Ocean – A History of Ideas

Covering centuries of maritime history and stretching into today’s debates about ocean exploitation and protection, The Ocean – A History of Ideas is both a cultural odyssey and a timely reflection: Do we truly control the ocean — or will it always elude our grasp?

The ocean has always held a unique fascination. It has been seen as both a force of danger and a source of riches, a free passage and a contested space. In this richly illustrated volume, historians of ideas Ellen Krefting and Gard Paulsen explore how humans have lived with, understood, imagined, exploited, and tried to control the ocean throughout history.

The book takes readers on a voyage among sea monsters and apocalyptic floods, slave ships and pirates of the triangular trade, legendary shipwrecks, Hanseatic merchants, whalers, and marine surveyors. We encounter the sea as a symbol of freedom for adventurers, as well as a field of inquiry for scientists.

A magnificent and thought-provoking illustrated work on the ocean’s significance through the centuries.

Ellen Marie Krefting, Gard Paulsen

Ellen Krefting is a Professor of History of Ideas at the University of Oslo. She has published several books on history of ideas, including Literary Citizenship in Scandinavia in the Long Eighteenth Century.
Gard Paulsen is a Historian and Researcher. He has published several books on the history of technology and science, such as Always Rabid and Building Trust.