Synopses & Reviews
To Rule the Waves tells the extraordinary story of how Britain's Royal Navy allowed one nation to rise to power unprecedented in history. From its beginnings under Henry VIII and adventurers like John Hawkins and Francis Drake, the Royal Navy toppled one world economic system, built by Spain and Portugal after Christopher Columbus, and ushered in another the one in which we still live today.
In the sixteenth century, such men as Hawkins, Drake, and Martin Frobisher were all seekers after their own fortunes as well as servants of their nation. But at the moment of crisis in 1588, they were able to come together to thwart Philip II of Spain and his supposedly invincible Armada. In the seventeenth century, the navy became the key to victory in the English Civil War and played a leading role on the world stage in the years of the Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell's Protectorate. The navy's dominance allowed England's trade to boom and prosper. It sustained its colonies, reshaped its politics, and drew England, Scotland, and Ireland together into a single United Kingdom.
It was this system that Napoleon had to break in order to make himself absolute master of Europe. And it was the Royal Navy, led by men like Horatio Nelson, that stopped him in his tracks and preserved the liberty of Europe and the rest of the world. That global order would survive the convulsions of the twentieth century and the downfall of the British Empire itself, as Britain passed its essential elements on to its successors, the United States and its navy.
Illuminating and engrossing, To Rule the Waves is an epic journey from the age of the Reformation to the age of computer warfare and special ops. Arthur Herman tells the spellbinding tale of great battles at sea; of heroic sailors, admirals, and aviators; of violent conflict and personal tragedy; of the way one mighty institution forged a nation, an empire, and a new world.
Review
"There's plenty of courage and endurance here. Herman's thesis is less than groundbreaking, but his narrative ought to please fans of Aubrey and Hornblower and even the Tudor kings." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"This is an exciting chronicle filled with colorful characters and enthralling adventures...Herman also relates stories and exploits of more obscure but equally compelling figures who helped establish and preserve the greatest maritime empire in history." Booklist
Synopsis
An epic history of the Royal Navy from the Spanish Armada to the present tells the story of how the British dominated the world and laid the foundation for the modern age.
Synopsis
To Rule the Waves tells the extraordinary story of how the Royal Navy allowed England to rise to a position of global power. Its dominance allowed England's trade to prosper. It sustained its colonies, reshaped its politics, and drew England, Scotland, and Ireland together into a single United Kingdom. To Rule the Waves is an epic journey that spans more than four centuries and takes the reader from the age of Reformation to the age of computer warfare and special ops.
From its beginnings under Henry VIII and adventurers like John Hawkins and Francis Drake, the Royal Navy toppled one world economic system and ushered in the one in which we still live today. Arthur Herman tells a spellbinding tale of great battles at sea; of heroic sailors, admirals, and aviators; of violent conflict and personal tragedy, and of the way one mighty institution forged a nation, an empire, and a new world.
Arthur Herman is the author of How the Scots Invented the Modern World. He has been a professor of history at Georgetown University, Catholic University, George Mason University, and the University of the South. He lives in Virginia.
"A riveting story told by a masterful historian." -- Victor Davis Hanson, the Los Angeles Times Book Review
About the Author
Arthur Herman is the author of How the Scots Invented the Modern World as well as The Idea of Decline in Western History and Joseph McCarthy. He has been a professor of history at Georgetown University, Catholic University, George Mason University, and the University of the South.