The Gulf: A Pulitzer Prize-Winning History of America’s Sea
A University of Florida historian wrote a 600-page love letter to the Gulf of Mexico. The Pulitzer committee agreed it was worth reading.
Jack E. Davis grew up on the water in the Florida Panhandle, and it shows. In The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, the University of Florida professor traces the Gulf of Mexico from its geological origins through the arrival of Spanish explorers, the rise of the fishing and shrimping industries, and the beaches that drew millions of vacationers south. It’s a history of the water, the wildlife, the people who built their lives around it, and the ongoing effort to protect it.
The book won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for History, the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The Wall Street Journal called it “informative, lyrical, and inspiring.” If you’ve ever stood on a Gulf beach at sunset and wondered how it all got here, this is your book.
