About the Author

N.A.M. Rodger is Professor of Naval History at Exeter University and Anderson Senior Research Fellow, National Maritime Museum. He is the author of The Wooden World and The Admiralty as well as the highly acclaimed first volume of his naval history of Britain, The Safeguard of the Sea (re-issued this month by Penguin).

Reviews

Rodger (naval history, Exeter Univ.; The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain, 660-1649) presents the second of his three planned volumes on British naval history, a remarkable effort to put naval affairs back into the history of Britain. Rodger's first volume received accolades as the first part of a massive effort that, when completed, will present a comprehensive account of the history and traditions of the British Royal Navy for the first time in over a century. In Volume 2, Rodger again combines high academic scholarship with a lively narrative that explains how the political and social history of Britain has been inextricably intertwined with the strengths and weaknesses of her sea power. The book begins with the execution of Charles I in 1649 and ends with Napoleon's surrender to the Royal Navy in July 1815. Rodger shares his convincing reassessments of such famous figures as Pepys, Hawke, Howe, and St. Vincent, contrasts the qualities of Nelson and Collingwood, and describes the world of other distinct characters, including Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower. Rodger's deep, impressive, research integrates numerous unpublished theses and dissertations, as well as an abundance of other published sources, cited in the 200 pages of reference notes and bibliography. This awesome second volume, alone or as part of its eventual three-volume set, is an essential addition to British history collections in all academic libraries and special libraries focusing on naval history. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/04.]-Dale Farris, Groves, TX Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

The adjective "magisterial" is justified for this colossal second volume of a complete history of British sea power, which began with The Safeguard of the Sea (1998); the author of the classic 18th-century British naval history, The Wooden World, has surpassed himself here. The book opens with the establishment of the Commonwealth in 1649; for its duration there were two British navies, the Commonwealth Navy (which laid the foundations for a professional officer corps and fought the First Dutch War of 1652-1654) and a semipiratical Royalist Navy-in-Exile. After the Restoration, we quickly find the diarist Samuel Pepys exercising less literary but more permanent influence as secretary (or chief administrative officer) of the admiralty. The book offers colossal amounts of information (organized sometimes thematically, sometimes chronologically) right through to its endpoint of 1815, accompanied by a formidable set of notes and bibliography, as well as 24 pages of illustrations. The author not only avoids a hagiography of famous admirals but displays psychological insight in his portraits of, for example, the trio of Lord St. Vincent, his protege Nelson and Nelson's indispensable second, Collingwood. Rodger also demonstrates a firm grasp of the relationship of technical subjects (the amount of tar caulking a ship needed) to British strategy (keeping the Baltic sources of tar accessible). Readers without an intense interest in the subject may be daunted; readers without some background knowledge in British social history may be somewhat at sea in the author's discussion of the officer corps and the recruitment of sailors (usually through the press-gang). Serious students of naval history, however, will find this absolutely indispensable; this is the place to find out whence the navy of Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower came. Agent, Peter Robinson at Curtin Brown (London). (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.