| + + — | Sat. R. 100: 344. S. 9, ‘05. 1420w. |
“They are readable and discursive, but they would not convey a very clear impression of the period which they profess to describe to any save finished scholars.”
| + — | Spec. 95: 353. S. 9, ‘05. 1400w. |
Mahan, Alfred Thayer. [Sea power in its relations to the war of 1812.] 2v. [**]$7. Little.
The authoritative and widely directed study of Captain Mahan on the influence of sea power upon history has resulted in a series of most important volumes. In turning his attention to this phase of the War of 1812, he has brought to light some entirely new material from government and private documents, has treated with special clearness the subject of the imprisonment of American seamen, and has given emphasis to the records of American privateers. The author traces the train of causes of the war from 1651, in order to make clear Great Britain’s course. The work is strongly bound and illustrated.
“No one who reads his latest work will hesitate to say that it is in all respects worthy to rank on the same level as its predecessors. The vein is as rich as ever, and it is worked with no abatement of skill and no diminution of profitable output. He is occasionally prolix, and the construction of his sentences is sometimes clumsy and involved.”
| + + — | Lond. Times. 4: 366. N. 3, ‘05. 2760w. |
[*] “His discussion of the conditions which caused the war is the best we know of anywhere.”
| + + + | N. Y. Times. 10: 777. N. 18, ‘05. 1160w. |
[*] “But whatever its defects, ‘Sea power in its relations to the war of 1812’ must be rated, like its distinguished predecessors, a substantial contribution to the history of naval warfare and a suggestive exposition of the force of the doctrine of ‘preparedness.’”