'This ambitious book, which ranges from the legends of Atlantis and the voyages of St. Brenden to the dual of NATO and the Warsaw Pact in the 1980s is a triumph of lucid compression.' - Frank Mclynn, Literary Review'The value of this important book can be found in its ambition, breath of learning and distinct perspective. It will serve a wide community of historians who touch on the ocean as a corrective to the prevailing literature, a check on Anglo-centric assumptions.' - Reviews in History'Informed by his own important research Butels book is a fine contribution to the available literature and will serve to deepen Anglo-American understanding in this area.' - Mariners Mirror'Professor Butels histoy of the Atlantic Ocean is one of the most important books to appear in recent years.' - International Journal of Maritime History

• Introduction 1 Atlantic legends and Atlantic reality before the Iberian discoveries 2 A new Atlantic: from the fifteenth to the beginning of the sixteenth centuries 3 The Atlantic and the Iberians: sixteenth to seventeenth centuries 4 The Atlantic and the growth of the naval powers: the seventeenth century 5 The golden age of the colonial Atlantic: the eighteenth century 6 Men and powers in the Atlantic: seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 7 The Atlantic in the nineteenth century: tradition and change 8 The Atlantic in the twentieth century 9 Conclusion

'This ambitious book, which ranges from the legends of Atlantis and the voyages of St. Brenden to the dual of NATO and the Warsaw Pact in the 1980s is a triumph of lucid compression.' - Frank Mclynn, Literary Review'The value of this important book can be found in its ambition, breath of learning and distinct perspective. It will serve a wide community of historians who touch on the ocean as a corrective to the prevailing literature, a check on Anglo-centric assumptions.' - Reviews in History'Informed by his own important research Butels book is a fine contribution to the available literature and will serve to deepen Anglo-American understanding in this area.' - Mariners Mirror'Professor Butels histoy of the Atlantic Ocean is one of the most important books to appear in recent years.' - International Journal of Maritime History

• Introduction 1 Atlantic legends and Atlantic reality before the Iberian discoveries 2 A new Atlantic: from the fifteenth to the beginning of the sixteenth centuries 3 The Atlantic and the Iberians: sixteenth to seventeenth centuries 4 The Atlantic and the growth of the naval powers: the seventeenth century 5 The golden age of the colonial Atlantic: the eighteenth century 6 Men and powers in the Atlantic: seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 7 The Atlantic in the nineteenth century: tradition and change 8 The Atlantic in the twentieth century 9 Conclusion

'This ambitious book, which ranges from the legends of Atlantis and the voyages of St. Brenden to the dual of NATO and the Warsaw Pact in the 1980s is a triumph of lucid compression.' - Frank Mclynn, Literary Review'The value of this important book can be found in its ambition, breath of learning and distinct perspective. It will serve a wide community of historians who touch on the ocean as a corrective to the prevailing literature, a check on Anglo-centric assumptions.' - Reviews in History'Informed by his own important research Butels book is a fine contribution to the available literature and will serve to deepen Anglo-American understanding in this area.' - Mariners Mirror'Professor Butels histoy of the Atlantic Ocean is one of the most important books to appear in recent years.' - International Journal of Maritime History

• Introduction 1 Atlantic legends and Atlantic reality before the Iberian discoveries 2 A new Atlantic: from the fifteenth to the beginning of the sixteenth centuries 3 The Atlantic and the Iberians: sixteenth to seventeenth centuries 4 The Atlantic and the growth of the naval powers: the seventeenth century 5 The golden age of the colonial Atlantic: the eighteenth century 6 Men and powers in the Atlantic: seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 7 The Atlantic in the nineteenth century: tradition and change 8 The Atlantic in the twentieth century 9 Conclusion