Shaping the Shoreline: Fisheries and Tourism on the Monterey Coast (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)

Synopsis

Shaping the Shoreline traces Monterey's shift from what was once the literal Cannery Row to an iconic hub that now houses an aquarium in which nature is replicated to attract tourists, revealing the continually changing interactions of people with nature.

"Chiang deftly shows how these two competing economies [fishing and tourism] were deeply entangled, how they developed and how they both perpetuated racial and class hierarchies and rested upon an edifice of immigrant labor. In a book that refreshingly blends the history of tourism and industry over the course of a century, Chiang rejects 'oversimplified dualities' and 'simple dichotomies.'" -American Historical Review

"In Monterey — and many other places — the boundaries drawn between labor and leisure obscure underlying connections that tie human societies to nature and link us to each other. In highlighting those connections, Shaping the Shoreline gains significance far beyond Monterey." -Journal of American History

Connie Y. Chiang is assistant professor of history and environmental studies at Bowdoin College.