21st Century Mahan : Sound Military Conclusions for the Modern Era

Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History is well known to students of naval history and strategy, but his other writings are often overlooked when considering today’s challenges.  This collection of eight of Mahan’s essays, along with Benjamin Armstrong’s informative introductions and analysis, illustrates why Mahan’s work remains relevant in the 21st century and how that work can help develop our strategic understanding. 
 
People misunderstand Mahan, Armstrong reveals, because they have only read what others have to say about him, rather than what Mahan actually wrote.  From the challenges of bureaucracy and staff duty, the development of global strategy and fleet composition, and effective leadership included in the first edition, this second edition adds discussions of the United States’ place in the world, the difficulties of naval readiness, and the organization needed for construction of an effective national and naval strategy.  With these added essays from Mahan, and a new preface and conclusion analyzing his work from Armstrong, this book demonstrates that Mahan’s ideas about the importance of sea power continue to provide today’s readers with a necessary foundation to address the military and international challenges of the 21st century. 

Alfred Thayer Mahan's The Influence of Sea Power upon History is well known to students of naval history and strategy, but his other writings are often overlooked when considering today's challenges. This collection of eight of Mahan's essays, along with Benjamin Armstrong's informative introductions and analysis, illustrates why Mahan's work remains relevant in the 21st century and how that work can help develop our strategic understanding.

People misunderstand Mahan, Armstrong reveals, because they have only read what others have to say about him, rather than what Mahan actually wrote. From the challenges of bureaucracy and staff duty, the development of global strategy and fleet composition, and effective leadership included in the first edition, this second edition adds discussions of the United States' place in the world, the difficulties of naval readiness, and the organization needed for construction of an effective national and naval strategy. With these added essays from Mahan, and a new preface and conclusion analyzing his work from Armstrong, this book demonstrates that Mahan's ideas about the importance of sea power continue to provide today's readers with a necessary foundation to address the military and international challenges of the 21st century.

Alfred Thayer Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power upon History is well known to students of naval history and strategy, but his other writings are often overlooked when considering today’s challenges.  This collection of eight of Mahan’s essays, along with Benjamin Armstrong’s informative introductions and analysis, illustrates why Mahan’s work remains relevant in the 21st century and how that work can help develop our strategic understanding. 
 
People misunderstand Mahan, Armstrong reveals, because they have only read what others have to say about him, rather than what Mahan actually wrote.  From the challenges of bureaucracy and staff duty, the development of global strategy and fleet composition, and effective leadership included in the first edition, this second edition adds discussions of the United States’ place in the world, the difficulties of naval readiness, and the organization needed for construction of an effective national and naval strategy.  With these added essays from Mahan, and a new preface and conclusion analyzing his work from Armstrong, this book demonstrates that Mahan’s ideas about the importance of sea power continue to provide today’s readers with a necessary foundation to address the military and international challenges of the 21st century. 

Emma Hamilton, much maligned by her contemporaries and later by historians and commentators, rose from the most humble beginnings to play a startling role in Britains naval victory over France and Spain in 1805. In this new book Barry Gough draws on the letters between the protagonists, and the unpublished examination of her career by famed American historian of the Royal Navy Arthur Marder to strongly defend Emma. The author shows how this most talented of women and the beauty of her age fell victim to innuendo, slander and cruel caricature. She was to die in poverty in Calais in 1815, just months before Napoleons final defeat.

Englands greatest sailor fell deeply in love with Emma in the years before Trafalgar. This, together with his quest for glory and victory entangled him in an inescapable web of circumstances and slander. The author explores the evolving scandal, the high political stakes that were involved, and the love affair itself which so influenced the fortunes of Englands glory and the fate of her Wooden Walls.

Richly illustrated throughout, the book shows Emma, probably the most painted woman of her age, in all her glories; and it makes clear how heartlessly caricaturists treated her. Depicting Emma sympathetically as a woman trapped in circumstances of her own making, Gough places Emma as one of the forces that gave the Royal Navy its will to fight and conquer.