This book tells the story of the world's first commercial whalers, the Basques of 10th century France and Spain, of the birth of the whaling industry during the settlement of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, of the Yankee sperm whale fishery out of Nantucket and New Bedford and of whaling in Indonesia, Norway and Japan. The author writes about the massive slaughter of whales in this century and the worldwide campaign to protect them, as well as including chapters on whale-watching and whales in literature and film.