Volume 1
Discusses the American Navy's role in history from the Revolutionary War to the present, and shows how foreign policy, partisan politics, and changing technology have shaped its destiny. This pragmatic chronicle pays as much attention to the government context out of which naval policy proceeded as to campaigns at sea.
The Navy's main business, in Love's view, has always been to serve as a handmaid to diplomacy and at the same time as the clenched fist of foreign policy; but there have been times when the administration's naval policy was in serious disarray: Love's analysis of Woodrow Wilson's and Herbert Hoover's use and misuse of the Navy is particularly telling. This first installment of a two-volume history begins with an account of the Navy's role in the Revolutionary War and concludes with the arrival in Washington of Japan's last peacetime diplomatic communication a few hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor. A comprehensive, thoroughly researched review of the Navy's first 166 years, richly illustrated.
Volume 2
Continuing where he left off in Volume 1, the author chronicles the history of the U.S. Navy from America's entry into World War II to Desert Storm. Love presents the stories of naval engagements, policies, and personalities in a detailed yet succinct format, which makes this book interesting and easy to read. Each chapter covers a specific time frame of naval history or stage of development of the navy. A glossary explaining naval terms and ship and aircraft types, as well as further information on operations mentioned in the book only by code name, would have made the book more understandable to the general reader.
United States
