Gunboats on the Great Lakes 1866-68, The British Navy’s show of force at the time of Confederation By Cheryl MacDonald, James Lorimer and Company, Toronto, (2017). Reviewed by John Grady Gunboats of the Great Lakes is a “what if” book; and the “if” is directly connected to the untimely death of the author, Cheryl
Learning War: The Evolution of Fighting Doctrine in the U.S. Navy, 1898-1945 By Trent Hone, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD, (2018) Reviewed by David F. Winkler, Ph.D. Admiral John Harvey always opened talks with naval audiences by stacking a small pile of recently published books on the podium and urging his listeners to acquire
Target America – Hitler’s Plan to Attack the United States By James P. Duffy, The Lyons Press, Guilford, CT, (2012) Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Ph.D. Over the past quarter century, James P. Duffy has written nearly two dozen books, mostly about military history with the majority of these focusing on the European Theater
The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean: The Ancient World Economy and the Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia and India By Raoul McLaughlin, Pen and Sword Maritime Books, Yorkshire and Philadelphia, (2018) Reviewed by Janet Nolan, Ph. D. A graduate of Lagan College, Northern Ireland’s first Integrated School, Raoul McLaughlin has written a remarkable book
White Water Red Hot Lead: On Board U.S. Navy Swift Boats in Vietnam By Dan Daly, Casemate Publishers, Philadelphia, (2017) Reviewed by Diana L. Ahmad, Ph.D., Missouri University of Science and Technology Approximately 3,500 men served in the Swift Boat units during the Vietnam War over a period of six years. Dan Daly’s excellent
Graf Zeppelin: The Only German Aircraft Carrier By Jürgen Prommersberger, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, (2017) Reviewed by Robert P. Largess “Graf Zeppelin” is a name to conjure with. Most people know it as the name of the pioneering passenger dirigible which made 143 Atlantic crossings, most on commercial service. Less know of her successor,
Warship 2018 John Jordan, Ed., Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK and New York, NY, (2018) Reviewed by Capt. Howard R. Portnoy USN (Ret.) The first hardcover volume in the Warship series appeared in 1977. It was the follow-on to a successful quarterly magazine with the same title. New volumes would be issued annually and would
Churchill’s Thin Grey Line: British Merchant Ships at War 1939 -1945 by Bernard Edwards 2018, Pen & Sword, Havertown, PA. 248 pp., $34.95. The United Kingdom has always considered its Merchant Marine to be part of its armed forces during wartime. Since time immortal, the White Ensign of the Royal Navy and the
Adrift: A True Story of Tragedy on the Icy Atlantic and the One Who Lived to Tell About It Brian Murphy with Toula Vlahou New York: Da Capo Press, 2018 240 pp., Bibliography, Map, and Illustrations If in the mid-19th century an ocean crossing wasn’t the blind leap into the unknown that it
Inspiring Innovation by LCDR Robert Crosby, USN is the first in what is intended to be The John A. van Buren Studies in Leadership and Ethics published by the Naval War College Press. 209 pp., $30.00 “The John A. van Buren studies was established to advance scholarship and publish thought-provoking works of analysis in the
World War II at Sea: A Global History Craig L. Symonds New York: Oxford University Press, 2018 Reviewed by Kenneth J. Hagan The author of this monumental and unique book, Craig L. Symonds, a former colleague of mine, writes to fill what he sees as a massive gap in World War II historiography. He laments
Oceans Ventured: Winning the Cold War at Sea By John Lehman, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, NY, (2018) Previewed by David F. Winkler, Ph.D. NOTE: Having been asked to review Oceans Ventured for an academic journal later in the year where I will detail how this fits into the growing historiography of the
Osprey’s Soviet Destroyers of World War II (New Vanguard #256) by Alexander Hill; illustrated by Felipe Rodriguez Reviewed by Jeff Schultz Alexander Hill’s Soviet Destroyers of World War II fills an important gap in the neglected story of the tragedy and triumph of Soviet naval operations in World War II. Hill’s background in Soviet
Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on the World’s Greatest Scientific Expedition By Stephen R. Bown Reviewed by Charles C. Kolb, Independent Scholar Island of the Blue Foxes tells a gripping story that holds the reader’s attention while remaining a well-documented piece of nonfiction. Bown tells the story of two Russian Arctic treks: the unsuccessful
Armageddon and Paranoia: The Nuclear Confrontation Since 1945 by Rodic Braithwaite New York, Oxford University Press, 2018. 502 pp., $34.95 This book provides an overview of the part nuclear weapons have played within the world’s scientific, political, and military arena since the 1930s. While the main focus is on the development and deployment of
