"An excellent piece of research on a topic that is both important and neglected. Roorda's determination to look at this bilateral relationship as the product of a multiplicity of actors is indeed unique."--Bruce Calder, University of Illinois at Chicago

Eric Paul Roorda is a maritime historian, author and artist.  A native of the Great Lakes region, he recently retired from thirty years of college teaching for Johns Hopkins University, Williams College, and Mystic Seaport Museum, among other places.