"Published when Theodore Roosevelt was only twenty-three years old, The Naval War of 1812 was immediately hailed as a literary and scholarly triumph, and it is still considered the definitive book on the subject. It caused considerable controversy for its bold refutation of earlier accounts of the war, but its brilliant analysis and balanced tone left critics floundering, changed the course of U.S. military history by renewing interest in our obsolete...

The definite object proposed in this work is an examination of the general history of Europe and America with particular reference to the effect of sea power upon the course of that history. Historians generally have been unfamiliar with the conditions of the sea, having as to it neither special interest nor special knowledge; and the profound determining influence of maritime strength upon great issues has consequently been overlooked. This is even...

No collection of nautical fiction would be complete without the inclusion of "Tom Cringle's Log", a novel that, along with the works of Marryat, became a cornerstone of the genre upon its publication some 150 years ago. Told in Scott's irresistible and immediate style, the novel follows the life of young midshipman Tom Cringle: his imprisonment in occupied Germany by Napoleon's forces, his West Indian cruise on the Torch, a British man-of-war, his...