Tides in the Affairs of Men The Social History of Elizabethan Seamen, 1580-1603

Subjects:

• Military Studies » Military History
• History » European History -- Early Modern/Renaissance
• Military Studies » Military Psychology
• History » European History -- Medieval

Reviews:

• ..this book provides an uncommon perspective on Elizabethan maritime history. All levels and collections.
  —CHOICE September 2002
• Encompassing not only the men of the Royal Navy, but the whole of England's "maritime community," including merchant mariners, fisherman, and privateersmen, Tides in the Affairs of Men addresses "recruiting," training, social relations, organization, victualling, health, and much else beside, including spoils, life ashore, and so forth.
  —NYMAN Newsletter Winter-Spring 2003
• [s]oundly founded on a careful study of much of the available evidence and makes a largely successful effort to place the world of the mariner within the larger context of contemporary society.
  —Souther History Society June 2003
• [a]s entertaining and informative as any cinematic creation. Prior to this book most of the available information on this fascinating topic had to be gleaned fromnumerous journal articles and in biographies devoted to the great captains like Drake, Raleigh, or Hawkins. Professor Fury draws all these threads together in a study as sturdy as a well-tied sheet bend.
  —The Sixteenth Century Journal Summer 2003
• Fury's book fills an important gap in our appreciation of life afloat during the development of English Maritime Expansion....Fury has definitely produced a comprehensive book for social and maritime historians of the early modern period, postgraduates, and the more perceptive undergraduates.
  —Albion Summer 2003
• [t]his is a valuable contribution to English maritime history which helps to fill a gap in the literature while at the same time raising issues that will provoke further discussion on the subject.
  —International Journal of Maritime History December 2002
• This is a major contirbution to matitime and military history. It is much more than <<some guys, some boats, and bad food>> at the time when the Island Race had to rely on seamen not only for exploration and state piracy but for the safety of the nation. The author brilliantly decribes life at sea and life ashore. She makes the case that seamen were struggling to retain their traditions and their livelihoods at the very same time that they served as the best defense of a realm which was facing new threats from abroad. This is a very learned but at the same time exciting read.
  —BHR LXV (2003:1), 167 L.R.N Ashley 2003
• Tides in the Affairs of Men is a good book and approaches a fascinating subject with energy and a commitment to answer a lot of questions. Its virtues lie in a sympathetic use of a wide variety of sources and a sensible comparitive perspective. I am sure it will be well received by students of both maritime history and early modern European history more generally.
  —The American Neptune .

Table of Contents:

• Preface
• Training and Manning the Maritime Community
• Authority, Discipline, and the Maritime Social Order
• Maritime Subculture, Labor Relations, and the Role of Custom
• Victualling, Morbidity, Mortality, and Health Care
• Life Ashore
• Conclusion
• Bibliography