Navy and Empire

Dr. Stokesbury has done an excellent job of showing the European expansion in the world, and the significant role of the Royal Navy in making that happen. He is singularly adept at getting to the heart of the matter, yet without distorting or omitting relevant details. As a one time serving officer with the Royal Navy, I very much appreciate his level handling of the many contentious issues he must deal with, and as an amateur historian, I must say that whenever he deals with an issue I am already familiar with, he seems to have a very good, balanced view of what happened. It is a decided pleasure to read a current historian who writes in the great tradition of Carleton Hayes, Carl Becker,and Samuel Eliot Morrison (not to mention Mahan). I would certainly give this book a strong recommendation to any student of world history.