This text describes the little-known history of the earliest example of American overseas expansion. Guano was the 19th century's most important fertilizer and

This book traces the history of bird guano, demonstrating how this unique commodity helped unite the Pacific Basin with the industrialized world.

The United States was an upside-down British Empire. It had an agrarian economy, few large investors, and no territorial holdings outside of North America. Howe

Behold the cormorant: silent, still, cruciform, and brooding; flashing, soaring, quick as a snake. Evolution has crafted the only creature on Earth that can mig