| To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World (P.S.) | 
 enlarge | Author: Arthur Herman
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 61015
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 688
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 1.5
ISBN: 0060534257
Dewey Decimal Number: 941
EAN: 9780060534257
ASIN: 0060534257
Publication Date: November 1, 2005
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Product Description
To Rule the Waves tells the extraordinary story of how the British Royal Navy allowed one nation to rise to a level of power unprecedented in history. From the navy's beginnings under Henry VIII to the age of computer warfare and special ops, historian Arthur Herman tells the spellbinding tale of great battles at sea, heroic sailors, violent conflict, and personal tragedy -- of the way one mighty institution forged a nation, an empire, and a new world. This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
 An excellent, thought provoking read November 7, 2008
Arthur Herman brings an obvious love of his subject, as well as the ability to convey history in an entertaining and concise manner, to an examination of the Royal Navy, and its effect on world geo-political history.
Herman begins his tale with a lively and very entertaining recount of the incident at San Juan de Ulloa in the 16th century. At this point, there was no Royal Navy per se, merely a collection of private adventurers out for plunder and glory raiding Spanish treasure ships and settlements in the New World. At this time, England was an afterthought in European power politics. The nations of the Iberian peninsula, Spain and Portugal, were in the driver's seat.
Herman carries the tale of the Royal Navy from these humble beginnings through the defeat of the Spanish Great Armada, two victories over the Dutch Navy, a century of struggle with the French which culminated with Nelson's victory at Trafalgar, and the struggle with the German Kreigsmarine in the two world wars of the 20th century, finally culminating with the Royal Navy's scrappy, against all odds defeat of the Argentines in the Falkland Islands in the 1980s.
Throughout the work, Herman does two things exceptionally well. First, he does an excellent job showing the men who manned the "wooden wall" in all their honor, glory, and occasionally, shortsigtednes. From Hawkins, Drake, and Raleigh, through Nelson in the Age of Sail, to the commanders of the 20th century, Herman shows the centuries of honor and tradition that made the Royal Navy the world's foremost naval force.
Secondly, Herman does an excellent job showing how the strategic missions of the Royal Navy changed over the centuries, and how this affected Britain, and the world. From merely serving as raiding privateers, to chokeing the economies of Britan's enemies via blocade, and to preserving the flow of trade around the globe which allowed England to not only survive, but to stand alone at the pinnacle of world power, Herman shows how England adopted sea power to forge an empire unique in history.
This book also offers lessons to American readers. For centuries, the Royal Navy controlled the seas, and was thus able to preserve the Pax Brittania. The story of the rise, and ultimate fall, of British sea power is highly relevant to the continued success of its successor, the Pax Americana.
Accessible and fun June 18, 2008
As popular history, this succeeds; I can't speak to the errors others have found. This is a long story that moves the way Herman describes his subject, in fits and starts and in multi-directional webs. Yet it carried me along without the battle descriptions getting boring, and I learned a bit... about ships and nautical word etymologies at the very least.
The book could have used some editing for mechanics and sentence structure, though. Articles are dropped all over the place, unless it's a matter of style to refer to "French navy" rather than "the French navy," and the author's nontraditional use of commas is a little jarring. But I'm a mechanics nerd, and if such things don't distract you too much, this is a fun and informative read.
 Useless November 3, 2007
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book has more than 600 pages.
To the worst defeat of the British Navy in history, the siege of Cartagena, the author devotes exactly 6 lines.
The British Navy Saves the World... October 19, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Arthur Herman's "To Rule the Waves" is the best kind of popular history: a thrilling narrative wrapped around an interesting idea and punctuated with lots of the kind of human-size details the average reader will enjoy.
Herman's subject is the British Navy, from its origins among Elizabeathan sea dogs little removed from pirates, to the professional Navy that helped beat Napoleon and Hitler while holding together Britain's far-flung empire, to the twilight triumph in the Falklands in 1982. Herman's thesis is that the Royal Navy's control of the seas helped make possible the modern world, with its global trade ties, international order, and the survival and success of democratic government.
Herman's efforts to explain everything in terms of sea control is inevitably a little strained in places. Also inevitably, in a single volume history covering some 400 years of crowded history, some of the details get stretched or misplaced. These faults aside, this is fun history.
Herman takes an unflinching look at such successful but tough-minded mariners as John Hawkins, Francis Drake, Horatio Nelson, Jack Fisher, and Sandy Woodward. Familiar historical figures such as Queen Elizabeth and Winston Churchill appear at the appropriate moments, along with a slew of lesser-known but equally important persons. The battle vignettes, from Panama to Trafalgar to Jutland to the North Atlantic to the Falklands, are crisply and concisely written, allowing the reader to grasph the tactics and outcome, without becoming bogged down in detail.
The descriptions of life aboard ship from age to age are simply fascinating. The repeated innovations in naval architecture as the world moved from wooden walls and sails to steel hulls and coal or oil-fired engines help explain how Britain stayed in the forefront as a naval power for so long. Along the way, it turns out that the British naval establishment was just as bureaucratic as any other large institution.
This book is highly recommended as an entertaining and educational experience for the average reader with any interest in naval matters and especially in the British Royal Navy.
Forget Johnny Depp. This is the real thing. October 8, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Chapter 1, page 1, a hurricane in the Caribbean of 1568. The author casts us upon the pitching deck of the "Jesus", a leaking old tub commanded by John Hawkins. His approved mission for queen and country? Why, theft, of course. Take your dramamine and hang on, mates. You are on an unrelenting voyage that won't end until the Falklands War. Sure, some priggish reviewers can nibble away at Mr. Herman's occasional errors. Let it go! On a 400-year voyage there are bound to be a few minor errors. Frankly, the man writes well. This isn't your college history book. It's more like a compelling sea adventure. The author at his most insightful? Herman's description of Captain Bligh and the HMS Bounty mutiny, and the story of the rise of the complex Admiral Nelson should have been part of my MBA management class. Herman at his weakest? His description of Napoleon as a terrorist. Terrorist? A Corsican-born military dictator, yes, but a terrorist? No way. Herman describes John Paul Jones as a vengeful Scot, deprived of a Royal Navy midshipman's billet, who becomes a blood thirsty U.S. Navy captain. Provocative words, but an egregious misread of history. OK, both darts and laurels for Mr. Herman. My recomendation? Buy the book. Herman goes beyond the cold facts. He provides the elusive "Why" so often lacking when reading history. Nicely done.
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