Revolution at Sea

In this bonus episode, John Curtis Perry has a conversation with Sung-Yoon Lee, an expert on North Korea and author of the new book The Sister: North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the Most Dangerous Woman in the World.  

In this bonus episode, John Curtis Perry describes his practical methodology for writing with the reader in mind, helps writers navigate the rocky shores of stilted or formulaic prose, and celebrates the joy of carefully crafting text.

With the publication this week of Episode 37: Postlude, John Curtis Perry’s podcast series Revolution at Sea is now complete. Do stay tuned, as we have something more in store; a bonus and very special episode, Writing to be Read, where Perry will share his advice on the art and joy of good writing. So please mark your calendars, for Sunday July 18th, when we will publish John Curtis Perry’s Writing to be Read.

In this final episode, the postlude book-ending the Revolution at Sea series, John Curtis Perry adds a few words as a sort of summary of our time together. "Together we have thought about some aspects of how the world of the terracentric has interacted with the world of the salt water (71% of the planet). We are living in a time of immense and rapid change as we grapple with the many dimensions of globalism that the ocean has provided to humanity, while serving as avenue, arena, and source, a shaper of the human experience. I hope that my remarks may have contributed to your understanding of what this means in the examples I have drawn from the past, and perhaps even to think about the implications for today."—John Curtis Perry.

Millions of Chinese rise from poverty and support an authoritarian state with global ambitions for prominence. The Chinese declare that their system is superior to democracy. What does this mean for Americans?

Under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership, China opens to the outside world and builds a highly successful export economy. Logistics come first, Deng says.

“China stands up,” Mao says. At immense cost, China struggles in its early PRC years to make enormous political, economic, and social changes.

Having begun our discussion with China, we now return to it. We begin by looking at the nineteenth century when the Atlantic powers seized and occupied many ports, giving China an idea of what the outside world was like and what it then considered to be modern. For China, an age of bitterness.

South Korea, a severely impoverished nation in the 1950s had always been a continental state. Now isolated from the mainland by international politics, Korea has turned to the sea. In a remarkably short time it has made itself a rich maritime power. [Correction: South Korea and Japan normalized relations in 1965, not 1963.]

Japan, the first Asian nation to develop an export-driven economy, becomes a leader in salt water commerce. It has become the world’s third largest economy and plays an important role in international affairs.

The Pacific springs to new prominence as a trading center for obtaining resources to make goods and trading them globally via salt water.

The geography of shipping changes the nature of ports and ship design changes ships.

What freight do ships now carry and how does this change all our lives as producers and as consumers?

Europe tears itself apart in warfare, which becomes global. New weaponry below the surface and above it complicate warfare at sea, during the two great wars.

The Atlantic becomes a great avenue for the flow of trade and people.

Emotion pushes war. And Americans end with an empire stretching to the far Pacific.

Exploiting new industry to modernize the navy, Americans begin to perceive its application to international affairs.

The maritime USA is slow to act upon the changing industrial world as it shaped a place on the sea.

American space and resources enabled the rise of a new presence on the international seas. Establishing a powerful place in the world of sail, the nation falls into civil war.

Japan opens to the outside world and makes itself an Asian international power.

Our team will be on shore leave for the holidays, but we will be back on January 18th, with Episode 21: Japanese Re-emergence. Wherever you are across the world, happy holidays! See you next year!

Germany emerges as a great power in the later 19th century and ultimately challenges Britain at sea.

A small Britain pushes aside France on the sea and becomes the world’s leading salt water power.

Britain redefines its scope of empire by moving to the east.

Now we move into a global maritime community, with the Atlantic world seizing the initiative and wielding it until the mid 20th century.

Why did France fail to compete successfully with Britain at sea? What were Britain’s advantages?

Maritime Europe discovers the Pacific and we look at the life of the sailor.

A newly-united Britain, with growing prosperity and new markets, vigorously contests other maritime powers.

England admires and fights the Dutch, and begins to develop a powerful navy.

Remarkable rulers strengthen the national government. At sea, privateers capture foreign wealth and popular admiration.

England takes on the sea, beginning to embrace it as part of its life.

Dutch visual arts take on great brilliance and merchant society prospers. Yet gradually the vitality fades.

Digging further into the Dutch experience, we explore how this small nation could create such a dynamic and sweeping maritime presence.

Our summer shore leave is soon coming to an end, and the team at Revolution at Sea will be setting out again next week. Stay tuned for episode 9, Characteristics of the Dutch Experience.

The crew of Revolution at Sea is taking a break this month. We will resume our series in September.

The Dutch make the world’s first global trading state.

Northwestern Europe seizes oceanic leadership.

Using the World Ocean, Spain creates a global colonial empire.

Portugal builds a global oceanic enterprise.

Iberia makes the Atlantic an inland sea for oceanic Europe

Peoples on the Indian Ocean were active seafarers. But, did they move beyond their region?

China enjoyed huge success on the continent, but how did it fare in exploring the sea?

Stepping back before recorded history to an amazing saga, we enter the vast open Pacific. This is the world of the Austronesian speakers.

John Curtis Perry invites us to embark in a wondrous journey through the centuries to explore the human history of the seas.