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Norman’s Corner: Tom Clancy

By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the seventeenth in a series of blogs by Norman Polmar—author, analyst, and consultant specializing in the naval, aviation, and intelligence fields. Follow the full series here.) In July 1983 a friend asked my wife, Beverly, and me to attend a bar-b-q at his home. Among the few others

BOOK REVIEW – Incidents at Sea: American Confrontations and Cooperation with Russia and China, 1945 – 2016

Incidents at Sea: American Confrontations and Cooperation with Russia and China 1945-2016 by David F. Winkler, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2017).   Reviewed by Charles Bogart   The Cold War was exceptionally “cold” on land, as there were very few confrontations between Soviet and American ground forces along the land border between NATO and

BOOK REVIEW – In the Shadow of Greatness: The Voices of Leadership, Sacrifice, and Service from American’s Longest War

 In the Shadow of Greatness: The Voices of Leadership, Sacrifice, and Service from America’s Longest War By Joshua Welle, John Ennis, Katherine Kranz, and Graham Plaster, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. (2012).   Reviewed by Capt. Lee Duckworth, USN (Ret.)   In the Shadow of Greatness:  Voices of Leadership, Sacrifice, and Service from America’s Longest

BOOK REVIEW – The Strategy of Victory: How George Washington Won the American Revolution

The Strategy of Victory: How George Washington Won the American Revolution   By Thomas Fleming. Da Capo Press, New York. (2017). Reviewed by David Curtis Skaggs, PhD   Few topics in American history have received more attention than the War for Independence and George Washington’s role in it. Into this crowded field Thomas Fleming (1927-2017) brings

BOOK REVIEW – Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail

Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail By Suzanne J. Stark, Naval Institute Press Annapolis, Md. (2017). Reviewed by Joseph-James Ahern   Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail is a reprint of the late Suzanne Stark’s 1996 study of women who went to sea aboard Royal Navy warships

BOOK REVIEW – Neglected Skies: The Demise of British Naval Power in the Far East, 1922-42

Neglected Skies: The Demise of British Naval Power in the Far East, 1922-42 Angus Britts. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2017). Reviewed by Joseph Moretz, Ph D   Of the many years of fiscal stringency preceding the Second World War, Admiral Sir Herbert Richmond observed that a ‘two-ocean empire cannot be defended by a one-ocean

BOOK REVIEW – Defensive Positions: The Politics of Maritime Security in Tokugawa Japan

By Noell Wilson, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA (2015) Review by John M. Jennings, PhD Conventional wisdom among historians had long held that throughout most of the Tokugawa Period (1603-1868), Japan pursued a policy of self-imposed isolation from the outside world. Japanese historians even coined a term, sakoku, or “closed country,” to describe this paradigm.

BOOK REVIEW – Naval Families, War and Duty in Britain, 1740-1820

By Ellen Gill, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, VA (2016) Reviewed by Joseph Moretz, PhD They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters may have been men in King George’s Navy, but they were not all bachelors. Those left behind—often for years at a time—did more than keep the

BOOK REVIEW – I Will Hold: The Story of USMC Legend Clifton B. Cates, From Belleau Wood to Victory in the Great War

By James Carl Nelson, Caliber, New York, NY (2016) Reviewed by Captain Kevin M. Boyce, USMC The annals of American military history reveal a breadth of scholarly writings, encompassing the stories of countless heroes of war and the battles in which they fought.  These legends are often remembered for acts of heroism that imbue the

BOOK REVIEW – Letters of Seamen in the Wars with France, 1793-1815

Helen Watt and Anne Hawkins, eds., Boydell Press, Woodbridge, VA (2014) Reviewed by Lisa Vandenbossche Recent trends in contemporary criticism to recapture and understand the experiences of those from below have left scholars searching for artifacts and narratives from outside the upper ranks of society and leadership. In Letters of Seamen in the Wars with

BOOK REVIEW – The U.S. Navy: A Concise History

By Craig L. Symonds, Oxford University Press, New York, NY (2016) Reviewed by Jason W. Smith, PhD It is often a pleasure to read short books, and Craig Symonds’ The U.S. Navy: A Concise History does not disappoint. Symonds, professor emeritus at the United States Naval Academy, is an eminent scholar of naval history whose

BOOK REVIEW – Thinking Wisely, Planning Boldly: The Higher Education and Training of Royal Navy Officers, 1919-39

By Joseph Moretz, Helion & Company, West Midlands, UK (2014) Reviewed by CDR Benjamin Armstrong, PhD The years following the Great War have become something of a favorite of modern day military analysts in search of historical analogy. The development of innovative doctrine, the introduction and assimilation of new technologies, and struggles with fluctuating fiscal

BOOK REVIEW – WHAT REMAINS: Searching for the memory and lost grave of John Paul Jones

By Robert Hornick, University of Massachusetts Press Boston, MA (2017). Reviewed by William H. White There have been a plethora of volumes written about American Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones; Hornick’s effort is not a biography of the man nor is it a recounting of his brilliance in battle. What Remains is an exquisitely

BOOK REVIEW – Letters From Your Loving Son: Wilson C. Lineaweaver, His Journey through the CCC and U.S. Navy Until His Death on the USS Bunker Hill in 1945

Edited by Thomas R. Lehman, CreateSpace (2017) Reviewed by Charles H. Bogart Wilson C. Lineaweaver’s life might have been summed up as born 1919 and died 1945, except that his mother saved the over 200 letters he wrote home. These letters, passed down through the family, were recognized by Thomas Lehman, the editor of this