Rod Scher is an ideally informative and amiable companion as he follows Dana on his exciting and exhausting voyage—he places Dana fully in his time and place, offering historical and cultural contexts for the writer's experiences, observations, and expressions. Scher knows how to inspire a sense of historical imagination in his readers, without forgetting who we are now. Scher can be proud of his own achievement in bringing such factual detail and humane judgment to this edition.

– Stephen M. Buhler, Aaron Douglas Professor of English, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

An enjoyable and fascinating look at a [classic]. The modern reader navigating Dana’s story is given a global view in retrospect, which adds much to Dana’s narrative and offers a glimpse of the views and opinions of that time and place. Scher’s The AnnotatedTwo Years Before the Mast takes a classic tome and repackages it with seafaring terms defined and historical references in place, thereby transforming it into a gripping tale for any avid sailor, history buff, or literary aficionado to enjoy.

– Patricia Wood, sailor and author of Lottery (short-listed for the 2008 Orange Broadband Prize for Women’s Fiction in the UK)

Rod Scher has done it again, this time with his brilliant annotation . . . . Scher’s annotation reopened this classic for me. This is a careful and thoughtful work, never dry and often with a subtle twist of humor, yet always sensitive to Dana’s themes. Reading this annotation brings young Dana’s chronicle into sharp, poignant relief in an almost new and very exciting way.

– E. Michael Jackson, USCG Master Mariner and boating instructor

A worthy addition to any collection. Readers new to the Age of Sail will find the annotations helpful and enrich their reading of Dana’s narrative. Those familiar with sailing ships will learn interesting details that may have been overlooked or unknown in earlier readings of this classic.

– Pirates and Privateers