Sea Otters - (Studies in Pacific Worlds) by Richard Ravalli

About the Book

An examination of sea otters in a Pacific World context and an exploration of how this iconic sea mammal once defined the world's largest oceanscape.

Book Synopsis

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title

More than any other nonhuman species, it was the sea otter that defined the world's largest oceanscape before the California gold rush. In addition to the more conventional aspects of the sea otter trade, including Russian expansion in Alaska, British and American trading in the Pacific Northwest, and Spanish colonial ventures along the California coast, the global importance of the species can be seen in its impact on the East Asian maritime fur trade. This trade linked imperial China, Japan, and indigenous Ainu peoples of the Kurile Islands as early as the fifteenth century.

In Sea Otters: A History Richard Ravalli synthesizes anew the sea otter's complex history of interaction with humans by drawing on new histories of the species that consider international and global factors beyond the fur trade, including sea mammal conservation, Cold War nuclear testing, and environmental tourism. Examining sea otters in a Pacific World context, Ravalli weaves together the story of imperial ambition, greed, and an iconic sea mammal that left a determinative imprint on the modern world.

Review Quotes

"Sea Otters is a concise, accessible book that will engage readers interested in sea otter history."--M. Blake Butler, California History

"Sea Otters: A History [is] a highly readable and detailed overview of the impact of the sea otter trade on the history and ecology of the North Pacific."--Les Beldo, H-Environment

"[Sea Otters: A History] provides readers with a fascinating overview of the life, times and history of the smallest marine mammal in the North Pacific Ocean. It is at once natural history, commercial history, imperial and nation defining history, species extinction history, conservation history and tourism/entertainment history."--Robin Inglis, Ormsby Review-- (6/6/2019 12:00:00 AM)

"Cute, beloved and once exploited for their fur, sea otters have now become an icon of conservation. How they once came close to, and then bounced back from, extinction is a five-centuries-long tale of international intrigue, trade, conservation and ecotourism."--John R. Platt, Revelator-- (12/3/2018 12:00:00 AM)

"Expertly integrating history and biology, this is the one book that tells the full, tragic story of the sea otter from its near extinction to its elevation to icon of cuteness. The sea otter, as Ravalli masterfully relates, has long been at the center of politics, conservation, and tourism in the North Pacific. Before you visit the sea otters at a Pacific aquarium, read this book to understand the fascinating history of how these creatures got there, and how they very nearly did not make it."--Ryan Tucker Jones, associate professor of history at the University of Oregon-- (3/5/2018 12:00:00 AM)

"Here is the story, richly told, of how these vulnerable mammals--the ermine of Asian markets--were pursued for their lustrous skins and hunted to near extinction. The quest eventually generated a rivalry between seafaring nations and Indigenous peoples along islands and coasts from China to Mexico."--Barry Gough, professor emeritus of history at Wilfrid Laurier University and author of Pax Britannica: Ruling the Waves and Keeping the Peace before Armageddon-- (3/5/2018 12:00:00 AM)

"Histories of animals continue to proliferate with the ongoing "animal turn" in the humanities and social sciences. Ravalli's Sea Otters: A History joins these still-swelling ranks, contributing significantly to our understanding of the contingent nature of the historical experiences of one animal species and human's relationships with it. . . . Ravalli's deft reading of the history of the sea otter (Enhydra lutris) as a history of a global Pacific, and especially the trade in highly valued sea otter pelts, demonstrates how global events might affect a raft of otters and regional otter populations."--J. W. Cox, Choice-- (5/1/2019 12:00:00 AM)

"Well-researched and succinctly told, this is the story of the late eighteenth-century sea otter trade that decimated a unique marine species and revolutionized the Pacific Rim by introducing coastal communities to a global capitalist system."--Jim Hardee, editor of The Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal-- (3/5/2018 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Richard Ravalli is an associate professor of history at William Jessup University.