Shaping the Shoreline

Fisheries and Tourism on the Monterey Coast

Connie Y. Chiang
Foreword by William Cronon

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• Published: 2008
• Subject Listing: Environmental Studies, Marine History, California History
• Bibliographic information: 320 pp., 37 illus., 3 maps, notes, bibliog., index, 6 x 9 in.
• Series: Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books
• Contents

The Monterey coast, home to an acclaimed aquarium and the setting for John Steinbeck's classic novel Cannery Row, was also the stage for a historical junction of industry and tourism. Shaping the Shoreline looks at the ways in which Monterey has formed, and been formed by, the tension between labor and leisure.

Connie Y. Chiang examines Monterey's development from a seaside resort into a working-class fishing town and, finally, into a tourist attraction again. Through the subjects of work, recreation, and environment - the intersections of which are applicable to communities across the United States and abroad - she documents the struggles and contests over this magnificent coastal region. By tracing Monterey's shift from what was once the literal Cannery Row to an iconic hub that now houses an aquarium in which nature is replicated to attract tourists, the interactions of people with nature continues to change.

Drawing on histories of immigration, unionization, and the impact of national and international events, Chiang explores the reciprocal relationship between social and environmental change. By integrating topics such as race, ethnicity, and class into environmental history, Chiang illustrates the idea that work and play are not mutually exclusive endeavors.

Connie Y. Chiang is assistant professor of history and environmental studies at Bowdoin College.

"Today the Monterey Bay Aquarium publicly embraces both fish and tourism within the confines of an old cannery. The two histories have coexisted for years, and they spawned a diverse and divided society. Therein lies Connie Chiang's fascinating and revealing story of the people of Monterey and the sea that gave them life." - Richard White, Stanford University

"A compelling narrative that is, at once, a social history of Monterey and an environmental history of the region that begins at the turn of the century and ends in the present day." - Carol McKibben, Director, Seaside History Project and author of Beyond Cannery Row

"Shaping the Shoreline brilliantly explores - and explodes - the dualities that have long defined not only Monterey but also American thinking about the natural world: work vs. play, white vs. non-white, tourism vs. industry, nature as spectacle vs. nature as worksite." - Karl Jacoby, Brown University

"For two decades, scholars have been calling for environmental histories that pay as much attention to changes in human social relationships as to changes in the natural world. Shaping the Shoreline demonstrates the value of such an approach with great subtlety and insight by exploring how the curiously intermingled worlds of commercial fishing and elite tourism created one of the most celebrated and sought-after communities on the coast of California." - William Cronon, University of Wisconsin

Foreword: On the Shore between Work and Play / William Cronon

Acknowledgments

Introduction: The Voice of the Pacific

1. Contested Shores

2. The Divided Coastline

3. Reduce and Prosper

4. Life, Labor, and Odors on Cannery Row

5. Boom and Bust in Wartime Monterey

6. Remaking Cannery Row

7. The Fish Are Back!

Conclusion

Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index