I'm reading Philip Hoare's towering "Leviathan or, The Whale".
One of the points he makes is that the 20th century was bookended by a monumental shift in attitude towards those endlessly fascinating and beautiful cetaceans. In short we went from killing whales for meat and fuel to watching them for enjoyment and study.
This shift in attitude appears to have been all too subtle for my parents who, on their visits to Boston at the beginning of this century, always insisted on their "whaling" expeditions. They went out "whaling" on a couple of occasions and enjoyed the trip immensely but always came back with nothing more than a few pamphlets. I can only assume that the spoilsport tourist boats made them leave their harpoon guns at the jetty.
1 comment:
Having spent nearly 1/2 of my life watching whales, I can sincerely say that Mr. Hoare's book is poorly researched and seems to be, not a book of love, but, rather, a commercial venture. Much like what the commercial whale watching tours have become.
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