The Perfect Storm Themes

The Perfect Storm is a nonfiction account of fishermen and their loved ones in Gloucester, Massachusetts—a coastal town sustained for centuries by the fishing industry—in the autumn of 1991. Among other fishing boats described in the book, the Andrea Gail is Sebastian Junger’s special focus—a small swordfishing boat that regularly goes out to sea for about 30 days at a time. As Junger describes it, the main draw of a fishing career is that…

In the fall of 1991, the Andrea Gail, along with a number of other vessels, winds up caught in a “perfect storm”—when a hurricane off of Bermuda, a Canadian cold front, and a Great Lakes storm all converge over the North Atlantic’s Grand Banks, a popular fishing ground, at the same time. These three weather systems collide in an event only seen about once every century, imperiling every boat in their path. While…

Throughout The Perfect Storm, Junger charts the growth of the North Atlantic fishing industry, which began soon after Europeans began sailing to what’s now New England. This industry is continually evolving—in the design of fishing boats and gear, navigational advances, weather forecasting, and more. An advance in technology often leads to unforeseen problems in the environment or marketplace, which in turn leads to legislative or other changes shaping the industry in an ongoing cycle…