Category Archives: Book Review

BOOK REVIEW – Asian Maritime Strategies: Navigating Troubled Waters

Bernard D. Cole, Asian Maritime Strategies: Navigating Troubled Waters. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2013. Notes; bibliography.  304 pp. Review by John M. Jennings United States Air Force Academy Asian Maritime Strategies: Navigating Troubled Waters is the latest book by the … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – With Commodore Perry to Japan: The Journal of William Speiden, Jr., 1852-1855

John A. Wolter, David A. Ranzan, and John J. McDonough, eds., With Commodore Perry to Japan: The Journal of William Speiden, Jr., 1852-1855. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2013. B & W illustrations; maps; appendices; notes; bibliography, 256 pp. Review by … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEWS – Some New Looks at the Old Breed: Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Modern Marine Corps and Victory in Defeat: The Wake Island Defenders in Captivity, 1941-1945

David J. Ulbrich, Preparing for Victory: Thomas Holcomb and the Making of the Modern Marine Corps, 1936-1943. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2011. Index, photographs, bibliography, maps, notes, 285 pp. Gregory J.W. Urwin, Victory in Defeat: The Wake Island Defenders in … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – Information at Sea: Shipboard Command and Control in the U.S. Navy, from Mobile Bay to Okinawa

Timothy S. Wolters, Information at Sea: Shipboard Command and Control in the U.S. Navy, from Mobile Bay to Okinawa. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013. Index, photos, maps, essay on sources, 317 pp. Reviewed by John T. Kuehn. Major General … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – Clouds Above The Hill (“Saka No Ue No Kumo”)

Shiba Ryotaro, Clouds Above The Hill (“Saka No Ue No Kumo”) Edited by, Phyllis Birnbaum. Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, Paul McCarthy, and Andrew Cobbing, New York: Routledge, 2012-2014. 4 volumes. Review by Robert P. Largess Independent Scholar Perhaps the … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – Cruise of the Dashing Wave: Rounding Cape Horn in 1860

Philip Hichborn, Cruise of the Dashing Wave: Rounding Cape Horn in 1860. Edited by William H. Thiesen. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2010. Notes, appendices, index, 148 pp. Review by Timothy G. Lynch SUNY Maritime In Cruise of the Dashing … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – The Development of Mobile Logistic Support in Anglo-American Naval Policy, 1900-1953

Peter V. Nash. The Development of Mobile Logistic Support in Anglo-American Naval Policy, 1900-1953. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2009. 320 pp. Review by Joseph Moretz British Commission for Military History Field Marshal the Earl Wavell is reputed to have … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – At War in Distant Waters: British Colonial Defense in the Great War

Phillip G. Pattee, At War in Distant Waters: British Colonial Defense in the Great War. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2013. 273 pp. Review by Joseph Moretz British Commission for Military History Though the historiography of naval operations during the First … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – Commerce Raiding: Historical Case Studies, 1755-2009

Bruce A. Elleman and S.C.M. Paine, eds., Commerce Raiding: Historical Case Studies, 1755-2009. Newport: Naval War College Press, 2013. Index, bibliography, tables, 356 pp. Review by Jason W. Smith Class of 1957 Post-doctoral Fellow in Naval History, US Naval Academy … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – Beneath the Waves: The Life and Navy of CAPT. Edward L. Beach Jr.

Edward F. Finch, Beneath the Waves: The Life and Navy of CAPT. Edward L. Beach Jr. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2010. 288 pps. Photos, Notes, appendices, bibliography, index Review by Nicholas Evan Sarantakes Department of Strategy & Policy, U.S. … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – Ships and Shipbuilders: Pioneers of Design and Construction

Fred M. Walker. Ships and Shipbuilders: Pioneers of Design and Construction. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2010. 237 pp, index. Review by Timothy G. Lynch SUNY Maritime College Published to coincide with the sesquicentennial of the Royal Institution of Naval … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – Blue versus Orange: The U.S. Naval War College, Japan, and the Old Enemy in the Pacific, 1945-1946

Hal M. Friedman, Blue versus Orange: The U.S. Naval War College, Japan, and the Old Enemy in the Pacific, 1945-1946. Newport, RI: Naval War College Press, 2013, 364 pp. Review by Joseph Moretz British Commission for Military History The role … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – “A” Force: The Origins of British Deception during the Second World War

Whitney T. Bendeck. “A” Force: The Origins of British Deception during the Second World War. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013, 272 pp. Review by Joseph Moretz British Commission for Military History The role of deception in Allied military operations … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – Strategy and War Planning in the British Navy, 1887-1918

Shawn T. Grimes, Strategy and War Planning in the British Navy, 1887-1918, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: The Boydell Press, 2012. 263 pp. Review by Howard J. Fuller University of Wolverhampton First off, this is a very handsomely-produced book from The Boydell … Continue reading

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BOOK REVIEW – Far China Station: The U.S. Navy in Asian Waters, 1800-1898

Robert Erwin Johnson, Far China Station: The U.S. Navy in Asian Waters, 1800-1898. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013. 307 pp. Paperback edition. B & W illustrations and photographs; maps; notes; bibliography; index. Review by John M. Jennings United States … Continue reading

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