| 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: 52471
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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| Customer Reviews:
 Excellent Overview April 22, 2007
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is an excellent overview of the history of the Royal Navy from medieval times to the modern era. The book dispells a few myths along the way and makes a splendid read.
Nice read but battles descriptions slightly short April 10, 2007
Saw this book off the shelf and decided to get it due to its interesting title. The book covers from San Juan de Ulloa right up to the Falklands War and beyond. Reading is straightforward and enjoyable. Content are generally well covered with both on-shore and off-shore history well described. However some battles are too skimpy on details whereas some like the San Juan are covered more.
Overall a good book for reading on the British Royal navy. For more details on any specific events will need to specifically hunt for some other books that are more dedicated.
 Good read, poor history March 30, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Having been much taken with Arthur Herman's "How the Scots Invented the Modern World," I anticipated "To Rule the Waves" to be just as informative and illuminating. My disappointment, instead, was immense. The book is unquestionably well-written, and is a delight to read. But its flaws far outweigh its virtues.
There are numerous errors of fact--many recounted by other reviewers--which could have been avoided by doing more than the most superficial research. (Wellington's Army of the Peninsula was NOT armed with rifled muskets, only two regiments were, and Col. Shrapnel's spherical case shot was not a revolution in artillery which gave Wellington's army a tactical superiority over the French, by way of just one example.) Also missing is an examination of just how British sea power kept the Peninsular War going, not just by supplying the British army in Spain, but also by supplying the Spanish insurgents with guns and gold. It was that effort which kept the insurgency going, allowed Wellington's army to achieve its string of victories, and compelled Bonaparte to devote more than a quarter of his empire's resources to that one isolated corner of Europe.
More disturbing, however, is the sense that Herman was writing with the idea in mind that Adm. Nelson and the Battle of Trafalgar were the climax of his story, and everything after that is merely tying up loose ends. It is in his analysis of the two World Wars where Herman genuinely fails. In the case of the First World War, he succumbs to presenting an already dated and disproven "conventional wisdom" regarding German strategy, giving G-Adm. Tirpitz credit for strategies which he never developed, let alone implemented. Herman's presentation of Jutland is superficial at best, and nowhere does he go into depth about the various German and British strategies (and strategic necessities) which brought about the battle. He also blames the Royal Navy for refusing to adopt a convoy system for merchant shipping until it was almost too late, when in truth it was the merchant fleet itself which resisted implementing it.
Herman's treatment of the Second World War is even sketchier--the reader gets the feeling that by now he's just trying to get this thing over with. There is no examination of how the naval war influenced the land campaigns, or of how the particular strengths and weaknesses of the Royal Navy from 1939 to 1945 often dictated how and where the Allies could and would fight. THE decisive campaign of the war--the Battle of the Atlantic--is dismissed in a handful of paragraphs, when in point of fact it had to be factored into every strategic decision the Allies made until well after D-Day.
Ultimately the problem is that the flaws in his analysis and conclusions regarding the World Wars at sea cause the reader to wonder about the validity of his earlier conclusions, causing the entire work to be thrown into doubt. There is almost a feeling that Herman devoted the lion's share of his research to the Royal Navy's history up to 1805, and after that he simply borrowed from his graduate students' work--and it shows.
 English history from the Royal Navy Perspective March 13, 2007
Nice overview of English history as seen through the Royal Navy. If you are looking for a detailed technical history of the Royal Navy you will be disappointed. For instance if you want an account of the pre World War I arms race between the Royal and German navies try Dreadnought by Robert Massie. Some of the author's conclusions are dubious at best but it's a quick read.
You Can Almost Smell the Powder.... February 13, 2007
Unlike Arther Herman, I never really caught what he cals "The Royal Navy Bug." That said, after reading "To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World," I can honestly say that I wish I had.
Herman's book isn't so much a history of the Royal Navy as it is a tribute to it, as well as to Britain's once mighty sea-going prowess. Deftly navigating a path between the twin dangers of fawning romanticism and cold objectivity, the author's prose sweeps the reader along from page to page, like the winds that once powered those wonderful sailing ships of old.
From Sir Francis Drake to Lord Nelson, Herman successfully brings to light both the great triumphs and near disasters of this once-invincible instrument of world power. But he doesn't fall into trap of less-gifted writers and turn his book into a mere history of Royal Navy battles. Instead he peppers the narrative with keen insights about both the main historical figures and players in the navy's development, to the origin of such things as four square meals a day, to how the rise of the navy led to the development of modern cartography.
In this Herman goes beyond the mere scope of his subject and really demonstrates a sound grasp of his topic and its role within the wider world in which it developed. This makes "To Rule the Waves" not just another book on the Royal Navy but a history about the development of the modern industrial world.
If there are any flaws with "To Rule the Waves" its that the information presented sometimes seems almost too brief and may not be detailed enough for serious-minded students of British history, naval and otherwise. Yet like James M. MacPherson's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "Battle Cry of Freedom," the richness of the prose and the deft sprinkling of curious anecdotes and facts, carry the reader along from page to page until, at the end, you feel both refreshed, informed, and exhilarated.
A truly wonderful read by a truly wonderful author. "To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World" by Arthur Herman is a fine work, a good read, and a great addition to anyone's library.
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