This book examines British naval diplomacy from the end of the Crimean War to the American Civil War, showing how the mid-Victorian Royal Navy suffered serious

As the United States grew into an empire in the late nineteenth century, notions like "sea power" derived not only from fleets, bases, and decisive battles but

Excerpt from The Empire and Sea-Power: A Treatise To veil the threat of terror And check the show of pride By open speech and simple An hundred times made plain

“A fascinating geopolitical chronicle . . . A superb survey of the perennial opportunities and risks in what Herman Melville called ‘the watery part of the