In this final volume of the Atlantic Canada Shipping Project, Sager and Panting argue that the decline of the shipping industry was not, as has commonly been assumed, the inevitable result of the conversion from wood and sail to iron and steam. They show that the merchant class, in failing to maintain a merchant marine built and owned in their region, contributed in no small way to the Maritimes' present state of underdevelopment. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR