Confederate Admiral: The Life and Wars of Franklin Buchanan (Library of Naval Biography) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've just finished CONFEDERATE ADMIRAL and the more I reflect on it the more solid it seems. A great job of professional history and biography. Symonds sets Buchanan in his time, and does a great job of presenting a guy many of us wd not get along with in person, and whose ideas would not pass muster today, but presenting him without judgment in the context of his time and profession. I never felt the author liked him, but I never felt he disliked Buchanan either; it felt . . . objective. What a word, how seldom we see objective reporting today! Read this book to see what it means, and to follow a real roller-coaster of a career in a stormy century and time in America. Damn nice writing too. Thanks Mr Symonds!

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The Naval War of 1812, Or, the History of the United States Navy During the Last War with Great Britain: To Which Is Appended an Account of the Battle (Classics of Naval Literature) Review

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(More customer reviews)In a time when patriotism is passe, reading this book can redden the stuff in any American's veins. Our Navy's often-victorious battles against a superb and numerically superior foe ranks with the Athenian victory at Marathon in the annals of honor. Roosevelt was a natural storyteller and a first-rate scholar. Like JFK two generations later ("Why England Slept") this work was the product of a young twentysomething Harvard grad (JFK was actually a senior) that commanded serious attention nationally, and presaged a later rise to the summit of public life. Roosevelt's research is exhaustive, but not tedious, thanks to a vigorous prose style that carries the reader through a mass of detail without losing sail. The digression on which nationalities make the best seafarers would no doubt be considered un-PC today, but, as a general characterization of national characteristics, they arguably hold true. The author's final chapter, on the Battle of New Orleans, forshadows future policy, in that his criticism of the unreliability of the militia were embodied in the reforms that fully Federalized the National Guard, as the Dick Act of 1903. (Doubtless, his Spanish-American War experiences contributed to his desire to supplant the 1793 Militia Act, as well.)This book rests on my shelf, next to Mahan's "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History," and O'Brien's Aubrey-Maturin novels - as is fitting for an historical work written in the spirit of high adventure and studded with minute detail. -Lloyd A. Conway

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Jack Tar: Life in Nelson's Navy Review

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(More customer reviews)If you read only one book of history this year that commemorates the 250th anniversary of the birth of Nelson, read Jack Tar.
During the Great War (1793-1815), the Royal Navy was the backbone of the defence of the British Isles and took a major part in the final victory.
Just as the great battles from Valmi to Waterloo were won by the troops in the field, the naval battles were in the end won by the crews - and not by the Nelsons, Hoods or Cochranes.
Roy and Lesley Adkins have worked like the archaeologists they are, unearthing hundreds of sources, extracting hundreds of relevant pieces, then carefully glueing them together until the whole image is reconstructed: the portrait of rough, hard-working men (women and children) living a perilous life on board a primitive, claustrophobic machine in a hostile environment.
Apart from the constant danger from man and nature, ships' companies appear more like small rural communities than the "rum, lash and sodomy" society depicted in "miserabilist" books like Masefield's one.
Jack Tar was no saint but the product of the very harsh 18th-century society. His voice is seldom heard in history books.
When you turn the last page, you'll have envisioned the complete life of Jack Tar from his entry as Johnny Newcome to his later life in Greenwich hospital (if he was lucky), told in his own words.
If you have no previous knowledge of the naval history of the period, don't worry, Roy and Lesley have everything at hand for you: maps, diagrams, explanation of all the nautical terms you'll need.

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Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy Review

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(More customer reviews)The writer of this book is an academic historian of some importance and he appears to be in the midst of writing a three volume history of the British navy. This book is a little more specalised and tells what it was like to serve on a British ship in the 18th Century.
The main theme of the book is to rebut academic theories which suggest that the British Navy of the period was run like a concentration camp. The author in some detail goes through the relations on ships and shows how the navy took a lot of care to preserve one of its key assets the sailors who manned the ships. Food was plentiful and of high quality or the time, British sailors worked out the cause of scurvey before medical science did. Care was taken to ensure that ships were clean and that sailors washed. The most interesting discussion is however on discipline. It would seem clear that in trials carried out to deterime the guilt of individual sailors, senior officers were very careful to establish the truth of charges and they were willing to aquit or to accept the sailors point of view. The book establishes that with a number of mutinies the Admirality removed incompetant officers from command and took no action against the men who mutinied, accpeting that the actions of the sailors was justified.
The author goes a long way to establishing that the reality of sea born life was one more or partnership rather than that of an oppresive regime.
The book however does more than this and describes in detail the tremendous organisational feat that was the Royal navy. It looks at all aspects of the navy from recruiting sailors, to feeding them and the reality of training and manning ships.
One finishes the book and relises what an achievment it was for England to be able to run such an effecient arm as the navy and how the way it was run led to the success it had in battle.

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From the award-winning naval scholar N. A. M. Rodger comes the most revealing account yet of the mighty Georgian navy and British naval society of the eighteenth century.
Meticulouslyresearched, Rodger's portrait draws the readerinto this fascinatingly complex world withvivid, entertaining characters and full detailsof life below the decks. The Wooden Worldprovides the most complete history of a navy atany age, and is sure to be an indispensablevolume for all fans of Patrick O'Brian, English history, and naval history.--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Stephen Decatur: A Life Most Bold And Daring (Library of Naval Biography) Review

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(More customer reviews)Although I am tempted to lower my rating to four stars for the author's penchant for repeating himself unnecessarily, his coverage of the scanty documentary record on Decatur is the most scholarly and complete that I have read. Other works are available for the general audience (such as emphasizing his famous saying, "Our country ... may she always be right, but our country, right or wrong." There was much more to Decatur than that, and author Tucker brings it out. His service against the Barbary priates at the beginning of the 19th century caused him to become the youngest captain in American naval history. And his promotion was well-deserved.
This is a story that can make every American proud. The hero was fearless almost beyond belief, but his sense of honor proved his undoing and caused his early death. He was also lucky to be in the right place at the right time to have the chance for fame and glory, but he did not fail to take advantage of those lucky opportunities. At all times he was ready to sacrifice himself for his country and his honor, and the reader will be struck by the comparison of Decatur's code and that used by so many venal and unsavory politicians in the US today. Decatur was never too important to risk his life, yet there are members of Congress today who have used that reasoning to avoid military service. Nor did Decatur lie -- in fact there is no known instance of his even dissembling on any issue or in any situation.
Even his death as a result of dueling with Captain Barron had a salutary effect in that it caused a national outcry against dueling and led to dueling being outlawed.
Although I believe this is the best book on Decatur today, it is by no means a deep discussion of Decatur or thorough presentation of his life. Such a book is probably impossible to write today due to Decatur's leaving behind no personal papers, and his wife did not add significantly to the literature about him following his death. This is a great shame as the American public should be able come to know Decatur as something more than an incredibly brave man of action. Nevertheless, this is the story about a naval hero who almost uniquely in the annals of American naval history has an almost unblemished record of aggressive action and unqualified success.
I highly recommend this book to all readers -- particularly to those with an interest in the American military and naval history.


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The story of one of America's great naval heroes which provides insights into life aboard ship in the war of 1812.

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Our Country, Right or Wrong: The Life of Stephen Decatur, the U.S. Navy's Most Illustrious Commander Review

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(More customer reviews)Mr Guttridge has written a fine addition to the library of naval history. Stephen Decatur's life is a veritable "Who's Who" of early American Naval History: Preble, Bainbridge, Barry, Perry, Porter, Hull etc. He was there in America's first war with Islamic extremists (Barbary Wars) and was an early proponent of steam propulsion with Robert Fulton. He was friends with Presidents. Many cities, as well as ships, have been rightfully named after him. Guttridge makes it clear in the book that Decatur's life was overshadowed by his apparently irreversible journey to a tragic end in a duel. The magnitude of the tragedy reminds one of the epic battle of Achilles and Hector in Homer's Iliad; Why didn't someone stop the madness? The book reads easily and quickly. I couldn't give it five stars for a couple of reasons. First, the editing grows shaky at points. In the very first sentence of the book, Decatur's famous burning of the frigate Philadelphia is placed in 1807 rather than 1804. It is clear that the author knows the correct year from the rest of the book, making this a typo of some magnitude. We are also told repeatedly that Decatur hates to write. Once or twice is enough, thank you. Second, as is too often the case in military histories, the book suffers from want of any geographical maps or diagrams of sea battles. These gripes aside, the book is a good read.

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