Naval and Military Publications
Captain Mahan's Works on Sea Power.
Captain Mahan's works on the "Influence of Sea Power" have received official recognition from the Governments of the United States and Great Britain—the War and Navy Departments of the United States having purchased a large edition for use in the service and ship libraries, and the British Government having supplied the books to the cruising ships of the Royal Navy. German and French translations have appeared.
I. The Influence of Sea Power upon History. 1660-1783. With 25 Charts of Great Naval Battles. Demy 8vo. Cloth extra, gilt top, 18s.
II. The Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution and Empire. With 13 Maps and Battle Plans. 2 vols. Demy 8vo., cloth extra, gilt top, 30s.
III. The Life of Admiral Farragut. With Steel Engraved Portrait, also a General Map and Plans of the Passage of the Mississippi Forts, the Vicksburg Batteries, and Port Hudson, and the Battle of Mobile Bay. Crown 8vo., cloth, price 6s.
Captain Mahan's book is admirable, both as a picture of the Admiral himself and as gathering up the lessons of strategy and conduct which are to be learnt from a survey of his career.—Times.
IV. The Life of Nelson: the Embodiment of the Sea Power of Great Britain. With 12 Battle Plans, 7 Lithographic Maps, and 19 Photogravure Plates. 2 vols. Demy 8vo., cloth extra, gilt top, price 36s. net.
The late Admiral Tryon, of the British Navy, pronounced them simply great,—the best things ever written.
THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON HISTORY.
Extracts from Reviews.
Captain Mahan, whose name is famous all the world over as that of the author of "The Influence of Sea Power upon History," a work, or rather a series of works, which may fairly be said to have codified the laws of naval strategy—The Westminster Gazette.
An instructive work of the highest value and interest to students and to the reading public, and should find its way into all the libraries and homes of the land.—Magazine of American History.
Captain Mahan has been recognized by all competent judges not merely as the most distinguished living writer on naval strategy, but as the originator and first exponent of what may be called the philosophy of naval history.—London Times.
The greatest of living writers on naval subjects.... Captain Mahan is the author of books which mark a new era in historical literature. They are to sailors of every navy in the world what Napier's "History of the Peninsular War" was to British soldiers, and something more. Captain Mahan is a born historian.—London Daily News.
The American officer was fitted by nature as well as by training for the work to which he happily turned his hand. Possessed of a charming style; precise and clear instead of verbose; completely conscious of what he intends to convey and perfectly competent to convey it; and dowered with a perspicacious breadth of view which dwells on all that is important and passes over all that is irrelevant, Captain Mahan has given us two very remarkable books.—The Fortnightly Review.
The distinguished author of some of the most important books on naval history and strategy which have ever been published, and which serve as text-books for nearly every naval lecture or article of the present day.—London Globe.
Captain Mahan's book should be read by all who are interested in the development of the navy, and who believe in the importance of the navy as the principal factor of defence.—C.H. Davis, Commander and Chief Intelligence Officer, U.S.N.
An altogether exceptional work; there is nothing like it in the whole range of naval literature.... The work is entirely original in conception, masterful in construction, and scholarly in execution.—The Critic.
THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER UPON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND EMPIRE.
Press Notices.
A book that must be read. First, it must be read by all schoolmasters, from the headmaster of Eton to the head of the humblest board-school in the country. No man is fit to train English boys to fulfil their duties as Englishmen who has not marked, learned, and inwardly digested it. Secondly, it must be read by every Englishman and Englishwoman who wishes to be worthy of that name. It is no hard or irksome task to which I call them The writing is throughout clear, vigorous, and incisive.... The book deserves and must attain a world-wide reputation.—Colonel Maurice of the British Army in "The United Service Magazine."
Delightful reading.... The most exciting and among the best written naval battles ever described, for its clearness, is the battle of the Nile, fought in the darkness and upon strange waters.—Chicago Inter-Ocean.
Remarkable volumes.... Captain Mahan has for the first time made clear to the unprofessional reader how much the plans of Napoleon were influenced by the successes of the British squadrons and the consequent failure of his "Continental System."—Macmillan's Magazine.
Do not contain a page that cannot be read with pleasure as well as with profit by any man for whom foreign politics, the history of the rise and fall of nations, and the sources of national greatness possess the slightest attractions.—The Fortnightly Review.
No other writer has told the influence of British naval power upon the career of Napoleon with the skill and lucidity characterizing Captain Mahan's account.—Springfield Republican (Editorial).
Of great permanent value and exceptional interest, and in a high degree creditable to our naval service and to the country.—The New York Nation.
Masterly and comprehensive.... The drama of the great war unfolds itself in these pages in a manner at once novel and engrossing.—The Spectator.
A highly interesting and an important work, having lessons and suggestions which are calculated to be of high value to the people of the United States. His pages abound with spirited and careful accounts of the great naval battles and manoeuvres which occurred during the period treated. We have before had occasion to praise Captain Mahan's literary style, which is flexible, nervous, and sufficiently dignified to satisfy every reasonable demand. It is, moreover, full of energy, and marked by a felicitous choice of language, and its tone and qualities are sustained steadily throughout.—New York Tribune.
Of the way in which this great theme is treated we need say little; no living writer is so well qualified to do it justice as Captain Mahan, and certainly the true significance of the tremendous events of these momentous years has never been more luminously or more instructively displayed.—London Times.
He penetrates to the real meaning of the mass of books, diplomatic, political, naval and historical, which have been written to describe the state of things in Europe during the last decade of the eighteenth century—The Critic.
We do not hesitate to assert that, in treating this theme, he has easily surpassed all previous writers.—Judge William O'Connor Morris in "The Academy."