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War and the State in Early Modern Europe: Spain, the Dutch Republic and Sweden as Fiscal-Military States (Warfare and History) Review

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(More customer reviews)That is what this book is about - how early modern European states were constructed, manufactured, bought, or cajoled into existance. Jan Glete writes an informative synthesis of old and new interpretations to examine state building in Spain, the Dutch Republic, and Sweden. It is military history with a strong dose of economic and social theory to examine how central governments used the development of permanent military organizations to "sell" protection and to "extract" resources, and thereby enhance or enlarge the authority of that government. He calls the end product the "fiscal-military state."
Overall, this thesis is not new (book first published in 2002), particularly as it relies heavily on Charles Tilly, Michael Roberts, Geoffrey Parker, John Elliott and other heavy hitters for the Early Modern historigraphic review. Changes in warfare technology, tactics, ideas along with changes in bureaucracy coupled with population expansion gave centralizing rulers the means to gain more influence and power; warfare provided the opportunity. What is new and interesting is that Glete uses the idea of protection selling (could be equally usefully called imperialism) to explain how Spanish and Swedish monarchs and Dutch states could gain willing cooperation from domestic elites, cities, and foreign lands. Those governments most "efficient" (this word is used a lot) prospered and expanded - when the cost of protection became too high or "inefficient" then the state lost its ability to maintain itself (a very long discourse on the so-called decline of Spain illustrates this well).
Structurally, the reader does have to wade through two chapters heavy on theory and historiography, but the background is essential to understand fully the historical narrative that uses economic and social history terms frequently to make the arguement. Chapters on Spain, Dutch Republic and Sweden make good use of published sources and contrast each society well to show how the same ideas was compatible with various forms of early modern governments. The final chapter probably needs to be read first, as it most efficiently brings the author's ideas into focus.
Finally, the author assumes a good deal of background knowledge of 1500-1700 of European history and of the basic historiography - excellent and comprehensive bibliography is a strong point of the book.

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British Cruisers of World War Two Review

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(More customer reviews)This work lists class by class the cruisers utilized by the RN in WW2 and gives a detailed technical history of each class. The plans contained therein are most helpful for modelers. This book is a must have for any Royal Navy fan.

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For God and Glory: Lord Nelson and His Way of War Review

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(More customer reviews)I loved this book, even though nearly everything in it was new to me and I had to read it slowly to take it all in. Its about time a military expert explained to those of us who devour books on Nelson just how good, and why, Nelson was. Even today's military officers will find great relevance in the way Nelson approached war, says the author, and I agree. I'm buying this book for my nephew, a destroyer officer, because I think he'll get enormous value from Hayward's treatment of Nelson's leadership and command practices. If my nephew realises what Nelson did, that it's better to focus on those below you than those above you, he'll be a successful officer and make his subordinates work willingly for him.
Hayward's coverage of Nelson's abilities is balanced. While Hayward can't hide the fact that he admires him, and doesn't try to hide it, he points out carefully and in a fair way how weak Nelson was in some areas and why these weaknesses caused errors and disasters.
Hayward's approach is to write inter-related chapters that are essentially essays. He doesn't narrate in a chronological fashion like nearly every other writer on Nelson does. He critiques and analyses things, with an expertise in military matters that we haven't seen in Nelson books in recent years.
I applaud this book, which is attractive and has great maps, beautifull illustrations and a handy index.

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Taking a highly original, thematic approach to the study of Horatio Lord Nelson, this book analyzes the admiral's unique war-fighting style. Doctrine, tactics, and operational art are part of the analysis, as are Nelson's command and leadership abilities and his attitudes and beliefs. But the book's focus is on how all these elements combined to form the man whose infectious ethos spread through his entire force. It shows that Nelson's creative genius, excitable and intense personality, dramatic visage, and fervor for all things martial not only inspired courage and loyalty but so dazzled and enflamed the hearts and minds of his men that he reached near cult status in his lifetime. As a professional military analyst who has devoted his career to researching, writing, and teaching about the tactics and operational art of warfare, the author draws on his own training and experience to view the admiral's war fighting from a vantage point not accessible to many of Nelson's leading biographers. Joel Hayward breaks free from the constraints of chronology to thematically explore in greater-than-usual depth and coherence the key aspects of Nelson's fighting style and to answer questions not previously raised about that style and its supporting ideas, including to what degree Nelson's style can be adopted by modern warriors. Nelson scholars and enthusiasts will consider the book to be a fine companion to the more traditional studies of the great admiral. The book will also appeal to students of warfare in general, especially those who focus on the Napoleonic period. 256 pages. 9 photographs. 7 maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Hardcover. 6 x 9 inches.

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Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era Review

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(More customer reviews)Cervantes in "Don Quixote" lampoons the writers of chivalric romances for failing to address the mundane realities of life, chief among them being how their heroic knights errant managed to feed themselves. To a lesser degree, perhaps, the modern authors of nautical fiction likewise do not much address the question of how their seaborne heroes (and their crews) were fed, day in and day out. Undoubtedly this is partly because it is far more interesting to write about boarding an enemy frigate than boiling salt beef, but I suspect that it also has to do with the absence of readily available, reliable information about the subject. Now, Janet Macdonald has addressed this want of discussion with "Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era". Coming from a background of writing about cookery, she has tackled the complex and surprisingly mysterious question of how in the world the Royal Navy fed itself during the classic Age of Fighting Sail. Although it might be thought that a matter of such obvious vital importance to maintaining a fighting fleet of tens of thousands of mariners would have been recorded officially in detail, in point of fact Macdonald has had to sift through obscure primary documents such as ships' logs, personal memoirs, and period letters to adequately explore how it was all done: from procuring the foodstuffs (and drink) in the first place, to storing them, getting them to the ships in port and at sea, storing the victuals aboard, preparing meals, and serving them to officer and crews. And even with such diligent research, she must resort to informed speculation to address some questions, such as just how a ship's cook kept separate the rations for the various messes and served them out in an efficient manner. The breadth of coverage is impressive: the Navy's Victualling Board administration, officially mandated rations and substitutes, typical recipes, shipboard organization, disease and vermin, the "hardware" of food preparation and consumption (stoves and dining implements), and surrounding social customs. For anyone interested in the real world of the Royal Navy behind the fiction Horatio Hornblowers and Jack Aubreys, "Feeding Nelson's Navy" is a revelation, dispelling old myths and offering new facts such as the caloric and vitamin content of the men's meals. Macdonald throughout her book illustrates the practicalities of the subject by citing numerous real-life incidents drawn from period documents.

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The prevailing image of food at sea in the age of sail features rotting meat and weevily biscuits, but this highly original book proves beyond doubt that this was never the norm. Building on much recent research Janet Macdonald shows how the sailor's official diet was better than he was likely to enjoy ashore, and of ample calorific value for his highly active shipboard life. When trouble flared and food was a major grievance in the great mutinies of 1797 the usual reason was the abuse of the system. This system was an amazing achievement. At the height of the Napoleonic Wars the Royal Navy's administrators fed a fleet of more than 100,000 men, in ships that often spent months on end at sea. Despite the difficulty of preserving food before the advent of refrigeration and meat-canning, the British fleet had largely eradicated scurvy and other dietary disorders by 1800. This was the responsibility of the Victualling Board, a much-maligned but generally efficient bureaucracy that organized the preparing and packing of meat, the brewing of beer, the baking of ship's biscuit, and all the logistics of the Navy and on an industrial scale unparalleled elsewhere. Once aboard ship food and drink was subject to stringent controls to ensure fairness, and this book takes a fresh look at the tarnished reputations of Purser and Cook, before turning to the ways both officers and men were able to supplement their official rations, including the keeping of livestock on board. A chapter compares provisions in the other major navies of the time, and the book concludes with recipes for some of the exotic sounding dishes, like lobscouse, prepared by naval cooks. While Feeding Nelson's Navy contains much of value to the historian, it is written with a popular touch that will enthral anyone with an interest in life at sea in the age of sail.

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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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British Battleships of World War Two: The Development and Technical History of the Royal Navy's Battleships and Battlecruisers from 1911 to 1946 Review

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(More customer reviews)I agree with the other reviewers-this book deserves 10 stars. I have a very worn out first edition that I recieved as a birthday gift many years ago and it is still a fabulous treasure trove on information about Royal Navy battleships. I am glad to see it has come back into print so I can give my first edition a rest and have a new one to enjoy. An outstanding work of reference and nothing like it has been published since. Readable, detailed and filled with amazing illustrations. Mr. Raven, Mr. Roberts--you are HEROES!!!How much bribery would it take to get you both to do a similar work on US battleships?

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This lavishly-illustrated volume, first published in 1976 and back by popular demand, presents the full story of the design and construction of every British battleship and battlecruiser class that served in World War II--from the Queen Elizabeth class to the Vanguard. Noted authors Alan Raven and John Roberts include a comprehensive review of each ship's initial configuration and refits as well as developments in weapons, gunnery, fire control, radar, protection, and propulsion. There are also sections devoted to combat actions involving British battleships and comparisons with battleships of other navies. Six hundred photographs and illustrations, including sixteen fold-out pages, complement the authoritative history of the vessels. 436 pages. 300 photographs. 300 illustrations. Hardcover. 9 x 11 inches.

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To Rule the Waves : How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World Review

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(More customer reviews)Arthur Herman's To Rule the Waves is a gallant attempt at a one-volume history of the Royal Navy and its impact on world history. Much of the narrative of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is extremely well done. He also offers such insightful observations as "It is only when we look backward that history assumes a predictable pattern. Viewed the other way around, as it is lived, it abounds in inexplicable turns and strange surprises."
It is, therefore, disappointing that such a fine book should be handicapped by numerous factual errors. Cartagena is not the capital of Venezuela. Napoleon's "crushing defeat" at Waterloo occurred on June 18, 1815 - not June 15. It is also difficult to accept the statement that the Battle of Trafalgar had all been for nothing, even "in a sense."
By the time the author reaches the twentieth century, one has the impression that he was running out of time or patience. The factual errors increase. The King George V class of battleships were not equipped with 16-inch guns to match the latest American and Japanese battleships. Unlike the Americans, the British had to proceed with the KGVs at an earlier date to address the German threat, and they given their unusual arrangement of ten 14-inch guns as a result. To be fair, the author does get the armament of this class of battleship correct later in his text. The Tribal class destroyer had a crew of between 190 and 226. The statement that Matabele was sunk with the loss of all but two of her crew of 4,000 is wildly inaccurate. The ship that assisted Duke of York in the sinking of the Scharnhorst, was the light cruiser Jamaica. This ship is incorrectly described by the author as a destroyer. Admiral Halsey did not participate actively in the Battle of Midway. Spruance and Fletcher executed the plans Nimitz had approved. The Cunard liner that was pressed into service as a troop carrier during the Falklands operation was the QE2. I do not believe that Canberra was ever a Cunarder.
These numerous factual errors inevitably lead the reader to wonder whether there are others that may have escaped attention during a first reading. The fault may be attributable to sloppy research or sloppy editing, but it is there all the same. Moving beyond the realm of fact to that of analysis, I am willing to give anyone the right to his or her opinion, but to suggest that if the Japanese had not sunk Prince of Wales and Repulse in 1941 there might not have been a Vietnam War is simply too much of a stretch for me.

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Empire of the Seas: How the Navy Forged the Modern World Review

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(More customer reviews)When it comes to publishing a book, any book!, colour and paper quality cost money. This particular product has 272 pages of top quality paper with colour images on almost every single page. To enable the potential buyer to visualise the work, it is almost A4 size and about one inch thick. In short, this is an awful lot of book for £20 (UK Price) - even more so when one studies the content.
Produced to accompany a forthcoming BBC TV series presented by Dan Snow, this work is written by Brian Lavery whose reputation and list of credits are as outstanding as they come. As Curator Emeritus of no less an institution than the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, this author brings the highest possible standing to the subject. Having said that, I did pause when I came across those areas which I happened to know in sufficient detail in order to check the facts presented. Not only did I find no errors, but on two occasions my own knowledge was corrected! Such is the quality of the research, the detail and the presentation it all unites into a result on which you can rely.
Having said all that, there is so much more to this book than just a collection of Naval facts supported by excellent images. In addition, it must be said that the book also stands well on its own - in that you do not have to watch that forthcoming TV series in order to obtain maximum benefit from this product.
Dan Snow is the son of long-time British TV presenter Peter Snow and previously joined forces with his father to co-present such programmes as the excellent series "Battlefield Tour." My own personal view is that Dan is now ready for his own series and this opportunity will provide him with his own defining moment as he comes of age as a presenter in his own right. Just some private thoughts as I wish him well.
As far as the actual content is concerned; The reader is taken from the defeat of the Spanish Armada right through to WW1 - as seen through British naval ships, men, development and tactics and all, as I say, lavishly illustrated with images of the best possible quality. It is the components of this book which were the very ingredients that shaped a nation and an Empire on which the sun never set.
Finally, I am delighted the BBC have allowed Conway to reproduce this book. These publishers have an equally high reputation in the field of maritime books and, all things considered, everything here combines to produce the best possible product of the highest achievable standards on all fronts - "and" at a most reasonable price.
NM

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White Ensign: The British Navy at War, 1939-1945 Review

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(More customer reviews)For several hundred years a relatively small island off the northwest coast of the Eurasian land mass managed to project its power and influence throughout the world, hitting at least a magnitude higher that what `should' have been its weight. One of the principal mechanisms for projecting its power was its navy. This book is the "swan song," of that navy, and quite a song it was. Though the "few" in the RAF in the Battle of Britain may have been more famous, it was the global reach, and the dedication of the many who served in the Royal Navy that was an indispensable aspect of Britain's and the Allies ultimate victory in the Second World War. Roskill has written the best single volume account of the Royal Navy in action in World War II.
The German invasion of Poland in September 1939 led Britain and France to declare war, but their armies and air forces took no action initially, and this period was dubbed the "phony war." The exception was the Navy, and there is an excellent chapter on the Royal Navy winning a battle it "should," on paper, have lost, when the cruiser Exeter and the destroyers Ajax and Achilles took on the pocket battleship, the Admiral Graf Spee, off the River Plate, in South America, sinking the German ship in December, 1939. Prior to America entering the war, there were numerous other significant actions: on the strategic scale, both the fight to maintain supply conveys from America against the constant U-boat threat, and the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk, in the late spring of 1940, following the collapse of France, were essential victories, though hard-slogged, and with casualties. Also during this period there was an immense tactical victory, when the Royal Navy took on the fastest and most powerful battleship the Germans had, the Bismarck, sinking it in May, 1941. Only 110 of a crew of 2000 plus survived; still, a much better percentage than the three who survived from the HMS Hood, sunk in the same battle. Roskill only briefly covers one of the more controversial intra-Allied actions of the war, when the British Navy sank much of the French Navy in the port of Oran, so that it would not become a German asset. Almost 1300 French sailors lost their lives in this action.
Only three days after America's entry into the war, disaster struck the Royal Navy when two of its most powerful capital ships, the battleship, HMS Prince of Wales, and the heavy cruiser, HMS Repulse, were sunk in the South China Sea, by Japanese aircraft. The lessons of this disaster reverberate today. Air Power is essential, and without air `cover,' ships are just `sitting ducks." Six months later, the Americans were able to effectively use airpower, based on four aircraft carriers, to defeat the Japanese in the Battle of Midway, usually cited as the turning point in the Pacific War.
Throughout the war, the Mediterranean was viewed as the responsibility of the Royal Navy, and the battles against the Italians and the Germans are recounted. The ship which had the most famous name in the history of the navy, the Ark Royal, which, in this re-incarnation, was an aircraft carrier, was lost to a submarine's torpedo. The sister ship of the Bismarck, the Tirpitz, which had been sheltered in a Norwegian fjord, was eventually taken out by the R.A.F. The navy concentrated on the supply conveys, including those through the Arctic, to support Russia. The navy also played essential logistical and support roles in the landings in North Africa, Italy, and, of course, D-Day.
The book contains numerous black and white photos of the navy in action, and the major battles are accompanied by excellent maps. There are also appendixes covering the statistics of the war, and a valuable index. Roskill's book is not aimed at the general reader. It was first issued in 1960, but if you have the interest in this important facet of the Second World War, there is no better book on the British Navy at War. 5-stars.

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Engage the Enemy More Closely: The Royal Navy in the Second World War Review

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(More customer reviews)Mr. Barnett undertakes to describe the Royal Navy's operational history in World War II. To do this, he has to take up where World War I ended and the interwar years. He describes the budget cuts, wholesale decommissioning of ships, the subordination of the Fleet Air Arm and the neglect lavished on the RAF's Coastal Command. This book becomes, in certain areas, a work on Joint Warfare - the current rage in the United States, but not a new concept if one goes back and looks at Saunders and Wolfe in the French and Indian Wars and Grant and Foote in the Civil War.
This work is painstaking in it's detail. One may not agree with the conclusions of the author, but you will know how he arrived there. I found his arguements thought provoking and informative.
What one has in this work is a review, warts and all of the state of the Royal Navy from 1918 to 1945. The Royal Navy started to rearm in the 1930s but it was not always a well designed ship that went into service. The Tribal class with single purpose low angle main battery - fine for ship to ship combat but useless for engaging aircraft as would be shown in the Mediterranean and Norway. New aricraft carriers were commissioned but aircraft were obsolescent or hasty sea conversions of RAF aircraft such as Spitfires and Hurricanes. A poor choice of fire-control systems put ships are a disadvantage when engaging aircraft. In all, a very mixed picture. Barnett gives the failures and successes of the Royal Navy high visibility. He is balanced in his approach, not failing to describe positive aspects of failures and negative points in successes.
I found this an excellent all around history of the Royal Navy. It is very useful as an adjunct to the biographies of Royal Navy leaders and events. I recommend it for anyone with an interst in the Royal Navy.

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Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy Review

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(More customer reviews)Few eras of American history are more misunderstood than the naval history of early America after the Revolutionary War. Former financial analyst and political aide Ian Toll sheds new light on this era in his richly detailed and comprehensive first book, Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy. The saga of the original six frigates, the Constitution, Constellation, Congress, President, United States, and the Chesapeake, is one of naval necessity, partisan politics, and the ungainly steps of a young country attempting to defend and assert itself in a dangerous world.
A common misconception in American history is that the original six frigates were begun during the Revolution. As Toll describes in excellent detail, it was in fact under the presidencies of George Washington and John Adams that the decision to form a standing navy was made. With America's merchant fleet under predation from North African pirates, French privateers, and British warships, ships to protect and fly the flag were necessary. An already contentious and partisan Congress argued endlessly over the formation of a American navy to deal with the problem, and finally the Naval Act of 1794 approved funding for the construction of six ships: four 44-gun and two 36-gun frigates. Designed by Joshua Humphreys, the ships were to be the strongest and most effective frigates afloat, a tough job in a world where the Royal Navy dominated. The frigates would play key roles in the quasi-war with France, the Barbary wars, and the War of 1812, and Toll chronicles the personalities, the politics, and the world situation that shaped both the ships and the campaigns in which they took part.
What these ships are best known for, and what is most familiar with the laymen are the battles. Toll describes every major ship-to-ship engagement fought by the original six with a vividness rarely seen in naval histories, rich enough to hear the thunder of the guns and smell the cordite from the gunpowder. The major actions described are: Constellation v. L'Insurgente, Constellation v. La Vengeance, United States v. Macedonian, Constitution v. Guerriere, Constitution v. Java, Shannon v. Chesapeake, and President v. Endymion. Also well addressed are the actions against the Barbary states, including a well-written chapter on the loss of the subscription frigate Philadelphia, and the daring exploits of Stephen Decatur to destroy the captured frigate. The major naval figures of the era like Truxton, Bainbridge, Hull, Decatur, Rodgers, and Barron are all examined by Toll with an observer's eye that fleshes out the caricatures as most histories portray them into real life men.
The end of the War of 1812 saw the launch of the first American ships-of-the-line, but it was the frigate navy that paved the way. Toll's book is an important addition that clears the mythology away from the early US Navy and incorporates all the naval, economic, political, and social elements that contributed to its founding and formation. Toll occasionally strays out of his lane, and the postscript loses a bit of focus delving into the post Civil War navy, but as a whole, this is an excellent book that will satisfy naval buffs and students of history alike. Toll's elegant and rich writing and exhaustive research marks him as an author to watch, and I eagerly await his next work. The original six frigates played a large part in the prestige of early America. Their successes, and their failures, demonstrated that the young United States was a blossoming world power worthy of respect and regard. Highly Recommended. A.G. Corwin
St.Louis, MO

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Oliver Hazard Perry: Honor, Courage, and Patriotism in the Early U.s. Navy (Library of Naval Biography) Review

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(More customer reviews)The first modern biography of the "Hero of Lake Erie" is ably written by Great Lakes historian Skaggs. It is a deeply researched and balanced story of leadership in battle, heroism and contentious egos during our Early National Period.
Perry, a Scotsman descended from Scotland's national hero, William Wallace, was born in Rhode Island in 1785 to naval Captain Christopher and his wife Sarah Wallace Alexander. Oliver was the older brother to Matthew Calbraith Perry, another career naval officer destined to open Japan to Western trade. So a naval career was pretty much a foregone conclusion and the older sibling was appointed a midshipman in April, 1799. assigned to his father's frigate, he saw his first action off the coast of Haiti, which was in a state of rebellion. The first Barbary War found him serving on the USS Adams and later, in command of the USS Nautilus, he was present at the capture of Derna.
At thew start of the War of 1812, Perry requested and was given command of the United States naval forces on Lake Erie. He supervised the construction of a small fleet at Presque Isle Bay in Erie, Pennsylvania, and on September 10, 1813, defeated the attacking British fleet at the Battle of Lake Erie, gaining everlasting fame in naval history. His battle report to General William Henry Harrison was brief and to the point: "We have met the enemy and they are ours..." The victory opened up Canada to invasion, while at the same time protected the entire Ohio Valley from British occupation.
The controversy began before the smoke had cleared Detroit. Perry's second in command, Jesse Duncan Elliott, was a conniving, self-serving manipulator who immediately claimed more of the victorious action than he deserved. The feud continued well into the next decade and didn't cease with Perry's premature death in 1819 from yellow fever while on station in Venezuela.
Filled with antagonism, courage and controversy, this book is the standard to be consulted by scholar and general reader alike.

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Hailed for his decisive victory over a Royal Navy squadron on Lake Erie in September 1813 and best known for his after-action report proclamationWe have met the enemy and they are ours,Oliver Hazard Perry was one the early U.S. Navy s most famous heroes. In this modern, scholarly reassessment of the man and his career, Professor David Skaggs emphasizes Perry s place in naval history as an embodiment of the code of honor, an exemplar of combat courage, and a symbol of patriotism to his fellow officers and the American public. It is the first biography of Perry to be published in more than a quarter of a century and the first to offer an even-handed analysis of his career.After completing a thorough examination of primary sources, Skaggs traces Perry s development from a midshipman to commodore where he personified the best in seamanship, calmness in times of stress, and diplomatic skills. But this work is not a hagiographic treatment, for it offers a candid analysis of Perry s character flaws, particularly his short temper and his sometimes ineffective command and control procedures during the battle of Lake Erie. Skaggs also explains how Perry s short but dramatic naval career epitomized the emerging naval professionalism of the young republic, and he demonstrates how the Hero of Lake Erie fits into the most recent scholarship concerning the role of post-revolutionary generation in the development of American national identity. Finally, Skaggs explores in greater detail than anyone before the controversy over the conduct of his Lake Erie second, Jesse Duncan Elliott, that raged on for over a quarter century after Perry s death in 1819.
Co-winner of the North American Society for Oceanic History's 2007 John Lyman Book Award for Biography and Autobiography

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If By Sea: The Forging of the American Navy -From the Revolution to the War of 1812 Review

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(More customer reviews)I am not sure what book the other reviewers read but I don't think it was If By Sea. This book is essentially a general history of the U.S. from the Revolution to the end of the War of 1812. Its general focus is on how the events of that period effected the formation of the U.S. Navy. Certainly not for serious naval readers and I did not find it to be tales of glory either.
If you are familiar with the era I think the book will bore you. Not due to the writing style which is straight forward if not very compelling. You get a great deal of set-up for each policy decision which if you know the era will be old hat. And even if you have read a few general histories I don't think you'll find much new here as regards the navy- I did not. (The page on the building frigates boilded down most of a chapter in the book Six Frigates)
Little attention is actually paid to the navy itself. Why were the politicians so split on a navy? We get the same explanations you'll read elsewhere: one side thought it was too expensive, a threat to liberty and would drag the U.S. into wars; the other a necessity to uphold American honor among nations. Nothing new here. In fact, there is little in the way of detailing and analyzing these points of view. They certainly merit both.
Further, there is a good deal of negative criticism heaped on naval tactics without any analysis as to why such tactical decisions where actually made. Example- author states the Bostonians could have overrun the British fleet in port at the outset of hostilities with quick hit and run tactics, boarding parties and small ships hiding numerous inlets. Why were those tactics not employed? No explanation is offered. This is not a miliarty history so even while battles are not described in any detail the tactics are criticized. Odd.
This was a missed opportunity. A scholarly analysis of the pro-navy and anti-navy factions certainly warrants attention. An academic approach to answering why a predominately maritime culture had such a hard time creating a navy would have been welcomed. Throw in the sections relating & contrasting the United Colonies/U.S. navy with various era's privateers, Washington's navy, revenue cutters and merchant marine and you would really have something.
I can't even recommend this book for people just starting out reading about the origins of the navy and/or the early U.S. There are better general histories of the era (The Glorious Cause; Alden's A History of the American Revolution) which will actually cover the navy debates. There are also some good books about the early navy (Fowler's Rebels Under Sail and his follow-up Jack Tars & Commodores, the recent Washington's Secret Navy and Six Frigates).

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Benedict Arnold's Navy: The Ragtag Fleet That Lost the Battle of Lake Champlain but Won the American Revolution Review

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(More customer reviews)James Nelson is an author to be envied if the notion of putting pen to paper and telling a story, whether it be fact or fiction has ever occurred to you. In the fourteen books he has written he has done both fiction and non-fiction superbly.
His previous non-fiction efforts have focused on the civil war navies and in particular the Confederate Navy, which is a little told, but very interesting facet of that war.
His fiction pieces have dealt with pirates and with the Revolutionary War and hopefully there will be more of those forthcoming as well.
In his latest he takes a man whose name stands for treachery and tells of his role in helping America to ultimate victory during our war for independance.
Benedict Arnold, the ultimate traitor, was for 30 months one of America's most stalwart military figures enduring great sacrifice and exhibiting much bravery.
Those of us who live in Maine are familiar with the story of Arnold's March to Quebec and The Arnold Trail is a route through Maine which somewhat follows that daring and brave adventure. For a number of years, I have fished and hunted in the area of Chain of Ponds and Coburn Gore where Arnold and his men passed through and while it is generally known that it was a difficult passage, you have no idea until you have read Mr. Nelson's account of it.
This is a definitive account of a part of the Revoltionary War which has received scant attention until now, so if well written history interests you, let James Nelson take you through it. It is quite a trip!

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