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BOOK REVIEW – Promotion or the Bottom of the River: The Blue and Gray Naval Careers of Alexander F. Warley, South Carolinian

By John M. Stickney, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, (2012). Reviewed by Larry A. Grant The culmination of work done over a forty-year period, Promotion or the Bottom of the River: The Blue and Gray Naval Careers of Alexander F. Warley, South Carolinian is the naval biography of a long-service officer of the

bollinger revolution cold war soviet merchant fleet

BOOK REVIEW – From the Revolution to the Cold War: A History of the Soviet Merchant Fleet from 1917 to 1950

By Martin J. Bollinger, World Ship Society Ltd, Windsor. UK. (2012). Reviewed by Ingo Heidbrink, Ph.D. Russian or to be more precise Soviet maritime history seems to be one of the most overlooked topics in global maritime history. Of course there is an explanation for this, the obvious language barrier many scholars are facing and

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BOOK REVIEW – War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865

By James M. McPherson, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill NC, (2012). Reviewed by Kenneth J. Blume, Ph.D. Do we need yet another book about the naval side of the Civil War? When the book has been written by the nation’s preeminent scholar of the Civil War, the answer is certainly yes. James M.

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Norman’s Corner: Working with Academician I.D. Spassky

By Norman Polmar (Editor’s note: This is the twelfth 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 1991 the U.S. Naval Institute published my book Submarines of the Russian and Soviet Navies 1718—1990, written in collaboration with

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BOOK REVIEWS – A Dog Before A Soldier: Almost-lost Episodes in the U.S. Navy’s Civil War

By Chuck Veit, Self-Published, United States (2010) Reviewed by Nathan Albright Chuck Veit, the President of the Naval & Marine Living History Association and founder of the U.S. Naval Landing Party, has managed an impressive feat in A Dog Before A Soldier. In this self-published collection of essays, Veit has written something that will be

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BOOK REVIEW – CSS Alabama vs USS Kearsarge: Cherbourg 1864

By Mark Lardas, Osprey Publishing, (2011) Reviewed by Thomas P. Ostrom The author, Mark Lardas, brings a degree in naval architecture and marine engineering to his analysis of this epic American Civil War naval battle; as well as experience in writing as a military historian, and ship modeler. The book is enhanced with magnificent illustrations

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BOOK REVIEW – The Civil War at Sea

By Craig L. Symonds. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. (2012) Reviewed by William Whyte Renowned historian Craig Symonds, Professor of History Emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy, has penned a compact, topical overview of the naval effects on the U.S. Civil War. Symonds has written a number of works on the Civil War, most

Cold War Flags

Call for Papers: 2013 International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War

The George Washington University Cold War Group (GWCW), The Center for Cold War Studies (CCWS) of the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the LSE IDEAS Cold War Studies Programme of the London School of Economics and Political Science (CWSP) are pleased to announce their 2013 International Graduate Student Conference on the Cold War,

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BOOK REVIEW – The Sea King: The Life of James Iredell Waddell

By Gary McKay, Birlinn Limited, Edinburgh, (2009) Reviewed by John Grady James Iredell Waddell is long overdue for a full-blown biography; and Gary McKay comes close to providing it. In the last five years, the commerce raider he commanded, CSS Shenandoah, and its around-the-world attacks on Union shipping -particularly the North Pacific whaling fleet —

Civil War Journal of Acting Assistant Surgeon Ezra Pray

In September 1861, with the American Civil War five months old and showing signs of becoming a protracted conflict, Dr. Ezra Pray, practicing medicine in New England, applied for and was granted a naval surgeon’s appointment.  Pray had been born on 13 March 1832 in Rochester, NH, son of farmer Ezra H. Pray and mother

New Magazine: “The Civil War Monitor”

Last fall we learned about an exciting new publication about the American Civil War. This brand new quarterly magazine is called the Civil War Monitor, and it looks to bridge the gulf between academic and popular history. According to the magazine, it is “devoted to the belief that popular history need not be superficial or

Naval Historical Foundation Railcar Trip

On 9 November 2011 long-time NHF member retired Chief Journalist Ty Robbins hosted Foundation Vice President, Rear Admiral Jerry Holland, Executive Director Captain Todd Creekman, and members Captain Jim Bryant, Ed Finney and his wife Daisy on a day-long journey aboard “Navy 118” a former Union Pacific Railroad office car, built by Pullman in 1914,

Civil War at Sea: A New Documentary About the U.S. Navy

In September we told you about “Wings for the Navy,” a documentary celebrating the Centennial of Naval Aviation, produced by R.H. Rositzke & Associates. The film-making team recently completed production on their newest documentary, about the American Civil War. “Civil War At Sea” is a 26 minute documentary about the U.S. Navy’s often-overlooked role in