Non-Fiction Releases
This section lists upcoming and recently released non-fiction books about the Age of Sail. They will also appear in the Non-Fiction Listings
Bonhomme Richard vs Serapis (PB)
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- Non-Fiction Releases
- Created on Sunday, 22 January 2012 00:00
- By Mark Lardas
Mark Lardas has a new book which is available for pre-order in paperback, Bonhomme Richard vs Serapis: Flamborough Head 1779. It will be released wordlwide on 20 June 2012.
The clash between the American Bonhomme Richard and the British HMS Serapis during the American Revolutionary War is perhaps the most famous single-ship duel in history. This epic battle between two very similar ships - and crews - off the coast of Britain in September 1779 created two naval heroes: in victory John Paul Jones became a figure that all future American naval officers would aspire to emulate, while Richard Pearson, in defeat, became a hero to the British for a tenacious defense that allowed the merchant vessels under his protection to escape.
Great Lakes Warships 1812-1815 (PB)
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- Non-Fiction Releases
- Created on Saturday, 03 December 2011 00:00
- By Mark Lardas
Mark Lardas has a new book which is available for pre-order in paperback, Great Lakes Warships 1812-1815. It will be released wordlwide on 20 March 2012.
When war broke out in 1812, neither the United States Navy nor the Royal Navy had more than a token force on the Great Lakes. However, once the shooting started, it sparked a ship-building arms race that continued throughout the war. This book examines the design and development of the warships built upon the lakes during the war, emphasizing their differences from their salt-water contemporaries. It then goes onto cover their operational use as they were pitted against each other in a number of clashes on the lakes that often saws ships captured, re-crewed, and thrown back against their pervious owners. Released in 2012 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the outbreak of the war, this is a timely look at a small, freshwater naval war.
The Social History of English Seamen, 1485-1649 (HC)
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- Non-Fiction Releases
- Created on Thursday, 17 November 2011 00:00
- By Cheryl A. Fury (Editor)
Cheryl A. Fury (Editor) has a new book which is available for pre-order in hardcover, The Social History of English Seamen, 1485-1649. It will be released wordlwide on 20 December 2011.
Traditionally, the history of English maritime adventures has focused on the great sea captains and swashbucklers. However, over the past few decades, social historians have begun to examine the less well-known seafarers who were on the dangerous voyages of commerce, exploration, privateering and piracy, as well as naval campaigns. This book brings together some of their findings. There is no comparable work that provides such an overview of our knowledge of English seamen during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the tumultuous world in which they lived. Subjects covered include trade, piracy, wives, widows and the wider maritime community, health and medicine at sea, religion and shipboard culture, how Tudor and Stuart ships were manned and provisioned, and what has been learned from the important wreck the Mary Rose.
The Naval Mutinies of 1797: Unity and Perseverance (HC)
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- Non-Fiction Releases
- Created on Monday, 14 November 2011 00:00
- By Ann Veronica Coats & Philip MacDougall
Ann Veronica Coats & Philip MacDougall have a new book which is available for pre-order in hardcover, The Naval Mutinies of 1797: Unity and Perseverance. It will be released wordlwide on 17 November 2011.
The naval mutinies of 1797 were unprecedented in scale and impressive in their level of organisation. Under threat of French invasion, crews in the Royal Navy's home fleet, after making clear demands, refused to sail until their demands were met. Subsequent mutinies affected the crews of more than one hundred ships in at least five home anchorages, replicated in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Indian Ocean.
Channel Fleet seamen pursued their grievances of pay and conditions by traditional petitions to their commanding officer, Admiral Richard Howe, but his flawed comprehension and communications were further exacerbated by the Admiralty. The Spithead mutiny became the seamen's last resort. Ironically Howe acknowledged the justice of their position and was instrumental in resolving the Spithead mutiny, but this did not prevent occurrences at the Nore and elsewhere.
Warships of the Anglo-Dutch Wars 1652-74 (PB)
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- Non-Fiction Releases
- Created on Thursday, 10 November 2011 00:00
- By Angus Konstam
Angus Konstam has a new book which is available for pre-order in paperback, Warships of the Anglo-Dutch Wars 1652-74. It will be released wordlwide on 20 December 2011.
During the 17th century England and Holland found themselves at war three times, in a clash for economic and naval supremacy, fought out in the cold waters of the North Sea and the English Channel. The First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-54) pitted the Dutch against Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth Navy, which proved as successful at sea as his New Model Army had been on land. Following the Restoration of 1660 the two maritime powers clashed again, and in the Second Dutch War (1665-67) it was the Dutch who had the upper hand. They humiliated the English by burning their fleet in the Medway (1667), forcing Charles II to sue for peace. This peace proved temporary, and the Third Dutch War (1672-74) proved a well-balanced and bitterly-fought naval contest. The Royal Navy eventually emerged triumphant, establishing a tradition of naval dominance that would last for two centuries.
Bligh: William Bligh in the South Seas (HC)
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- Non-Fiction Releases
- Created on Tuesday, 08 November 2011 00:00
- By Anne Salmond
Anne Salmond has a new book which is available in hardcover, Bligh: William Bligh in the South Seas. It was released wordlwide on 11 October 2011.
In Bligh, the story of the most notorious of all Pacific explorers is told through a new lens as a key episode in the history of the world, rather than simply of the West. Award-winning anthropologist Anne Salmond recounts with a fresh perspective the triumphs and disasters of William Bligh's life in a riveting narrative that for the first time portrays the Pacific islanders as players. Beginning in 1777, when Bligh, at twenty-two, first arrived in Tahiti with Captain Cook, Salmond charts Bligh's three Pacific voyages--and tells how they transformed lives on the islands as well as on board the ships and back in Europe. She sheds new insight into the mutiny aboard the Bounty--and on Bligh's remarkable 3,000-mile journey across the Pacific in a small boat--through revelations from the raw, unguarded letters between him and his wife Betsy. This beautifully told story reveals Bligh for the first time, as an important ethnographer adding to the paradoxical legacy of this famed seaman, and it captures more definitively than ever the excitement, drama, and terror of these events.
CSS Alabama vs USS Kearsarge (PB)
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- Non-Fiction Releases
- Created on Monday, 07 November 2011 00:00
- By Mark Lardas
Mark Lardas has a new book which is available for pre-order in paperback, CSS Alabama vs USS Kearsarge: Cherbourg 1864. It will be released wordlwide on 20 November 2011.
The most successful commerce raider of the Civil War, the CSS Alabama almost single-handedly drove United States merchant shipping from the seas. Her illustrious career saw the capture of 60 merchant ships and two duels with ships of the US Navy. This book gives the complete story of the development of the Confederacy's commerce raiding force and the ships the Union set against them. Compiled from numerous first-hand accounts as well as archeological evidence, it covers the three famous battles of the commerce raiders, CSS Florida vs. USS Wachusett, CSS Alabama vs. USS Hatteras, and CSS Alabama vs. USS Kearsarge, analyzing the strengths and weakness of each of the combatants. While the American Civil War is usually considered a land war, there was plenty of blood in the water.
How Britain Won the War of 1812 (HC)
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- Non-Fiction Releases
- Created on Tuesday, 27 September 2011 00:00
- By Brian Arthur
Brian Arthur has a new book which is available for pre-order in hardcover, How Britain Won the War of 1812: The Royal Navy's Blockades of the United States, 1812-1815. It will be released wordlwide on 17 November 2011.
The War of 1812 between Britain and the United States was fought on many fronts: single ship actions in the Atlantic; a US invasion of Canada, which the Canadians heroically resisted; the burning of the new US capital, Washington, by the British, the President's house subsequently painted white to hide the fire damage; and an unsuccessful attack by the British on New Orleans. The war is usually seen as a draw. However, as this book demonstrates, it was in fact a British victory. The United States achieved none of its war aims, and the peace, concluded in December 1814, met Britain's long-term maritime needs.