Revolution at Sea

In this bonus episode, John Curtis Perry has a conversation with Sung-Yoon Lee, 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 Writi...

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...

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 did not react quickly to changing uses of the sea, which the industrial world was creating.

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.

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?