A Path in the Mighty Waters

"Extremely well researched and beautifully written"-Erik R. Seeman, author of Death in the New World -- Erik R. Seeman
"Evocative and engaging, Berry's study makes significant contributions to our understanding of Early American culture, spirituality, and the Atlantic World."-Richard Godbeer, University of Miami
-- Richard Godbeer
"In this innovative work, Stephen Berry focuses on the experience of oceanic travel, utilizing overlooked sources to uncover individual understandings of faith as well as novel interactions across denominational and ethnic divides. A Path in the Mighty Waters is elegantly written, and deserves to be widely read."-Carla Gardina Pestana, University of California, Los Angeles
-- Carla Gardina Pestana
"For a generation we have done Atlantic history without the ocean. By masterfully charting a complex space, Stephen Berry reminds us in his original book that the Atlantic system that emerged in the eighteenth century was nothing more, nor less, than the sum total of the hopes and fears of those who ventured from Old Worlds to New."-Patrick Griffin, University of Notre Dame
-- Patrick Griffin
"Sailor-scholar Stephen Berry, part of a growing band of maritime historians, takes us 'down to the sea in ships' for a memorable and well-researched ocean crossing. He vividly shows that their ocean sojourn gave voyagers a preview of the unfamiliar diversity they would face in America, and he rightly emphasizes the spiritual aspect of their journey."- Peter H. Wood, author of Strange New Land: Africans in Colonial America -- Peter H. Wood
"A Path in the Mighty Waters helps restore the ocean itself to Atlantic history. In Stephen Berry's adroit telling, the collision of profane terror and spiritual epiphany at sea forever shaped the mental world of migrants to early America."-Jon F. Sensbach, author of Rebecca's Revival: Creating Black Christianity in the Atlantic World

-- Jon F. Sensbach
"Berry's innovative reading of logs, letters, and diaries explores how cramped, uncertain voyages shaped American Protestantism. The way of the ship has never been imagined like this."-W. Jeffrey Bolster, author of The Mortal Sea: Fishing the Atlantic in the Age of Sail
-- W. Jeffrey Bolster
"Nowhere has the intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and physical significance of European Atlantic crossings emerged so expressively, and seldom has the "middle passage" for captured Africans been so graphically rendered. A Path in the Mighty Waters simply sticks in the mind, a testament to fresh, comparative research and compelling prose."-Jon Butler, Yale University -- Jon Butler
"A well-researched and beautifully written account of the important role the Atlantic has played in American history."-Mystic Seaport Magazine * Mystic Seaport Magazine *
"Berry's work...seeks to trace the experience of the Atlantic crossing from embarkation to landing. He uses the well-documented 1735-36 expedition from England to Georgia led by James Oglethorpe to provide a narrative arc for the study. . .Beyond [it's] elegant thesis, A Path in the Mighty Waters includes valuable research about the more mundane shipboard experiences of travelers."-Denver Brunsman, William and Mary Quarterly
-- Denver Brunsman * William and Mary Quarterly *
"Learned and gracefully written."-The Christian Century * The Christian Century *