"With If By Sea, George Daughan has written an informative and engaging work. No dry recitation of facts, Daughan's text is instead a fast-moving history of the birth and maturation of the embryonic U.S. Navy of the American Revolution. By interweaving the story of the navy's inception with the military and political dynamics of the era, Daughan has produced a unique and original work."
George W. Emery was appointed the 24th Commander of U.S. and Allied Atlantic Submarine Forces by President Clinton. Now retired, he served for nine years as a member of the Secretary of the Navy's Subcommittee on Naval History.
AWARDS
"If By Sea" received the Samuel Eliot Morison Award from the New York Commandery of the Naval Order of the U.S. in New York City on November 3, 2008. The award is given every year to an "American author, who by his published writings shall have made a substantial contribution to the preservation of the history and traditions of the US Navy".
"If By Sea" has received an Honorable Mention for the prestigious 2009 Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award. "The award is presented each year to the author of the best, newly published work on the American Revolutionary period, combining original scholarship, insight and good writing,......." The committee is also empowered to name additonal awards such as Honorable Mentions..... whenever they deem appropriate".
"If By Sea" has received an Honorable Mention for the prestigious 2009 Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award. "The award is presented each year to the author of the best, newly published work on the American Revolutionary period, combining original scholarship, insight and good writing,......." The committee is also empowered to name additonal awards such as Honorable Mentions..... whenever they deem appropriate".
Best Seller Lists
#5 on the best seller list for the San Francisco Chronicle.
#8 on the best seller list for the Maine Sunday Telegram.
#8 on the best seller list for the Maine Sunday Telegram.
Review
"This is a book for those who like their history braced by serious thinking - and spiced by action. Goerge Daughan makes us realize just how complicated it was for Americans to acquire a navy - and keep one - for the first three decades of our national existence. Simultaneously he grips us with vivid narratives of what these mostly forgotten sailors accomlished."
Thomas Fleming, author of The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle to Survive after Yorktown.
Thomas Fleming, author of The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle to Survive after Yorktown.
Review
"If By Sea" illuminates the tangles and contested origins of American naval power better than any other book in recent memory. Daughan has a sharp eye for detail as well as a firm grasp of the big picture. His writing combines passionate conviction with a deep knowledge of seamanship in a way reminiscent of Samuel Eliot Morison. This is a book I will read again."
Edwin G Burrows, co-author of Gotham
Edwin G Burrows, co-author of Gotham
Review
"If By Sea by George C. Daughan covers the Navy's first forty years with authority, clarity and detail. He puts the famous names - John Paul Jones, Oliver Hazard Perry - in context, while bringing others - including dozens of Revolutionary War figures, hitherto unknown to me - to light. He shows how the military, like any other large organization, lurches and learns over time, from blunders, missed opportunities and general snafu, until those moments when the right men are at headquarters and in the field, and everything gloriously clicks."
Richard Brookhiser, author of George Washington on Leadership and What Would the Founders Do?
Richard Brookhiser, author of George Washington on Leadership and What Would the Founders Do?
More Reviews
Reviews are added below as they come in. In order not to be too repetitive many of the reviews are condensed.
The Weekly Standard Review
Founders Afloat. "The fortunes of the nation and its navy" have always been linked
"In his first paragraph George Daughan quotes President John Kennedy's foreword for Naval Documents of the American Revoution. The words that Daughan selected to establish a premise for his own work were written by Kennedy to express the hope that the Naval Documents series would "make it amply clear the critical role played by sea power in the achievement of American Independence." "
"Daughan meets that challenge in absorbing detail, beginning with the intitial deployment in December 1775 of a Contintental Navy squadron against New Providence and continuing through scores of naval actions and ploitical disputes, both large and small. And to his credit, he avoids depicting naval actions as freestanding events, instead showing how they were more often than not linked to the land war."
Joseph F Callo is the author, most recently, of John Paul Jones: America's First Sea Warrior.
"In his first paragraph George Daughan quotes President John Kennedy's foreword for Naval Documents of the American Revoution. The words that Daughan selected to establish a premise for his own work were written by Kennedy to express the hope that the Naval Documents series would "make it amply clear the critical role played by sea power in the achievement of American Independence." "
"Daughan meets that challenge in absorbing detail, beginning with the intitial deployment in December 1775 of a Contintental Navy squadron against New Providence and continuing through scores of naval actions and ploitical disputes, both large and small. And to his credit, he avoids depicting naval actions as freestanding events, instead showing how they were more often than not linked to the land war."
Joseph F Callo is the author, most recently, of John Paul Jones: America's First Sea Warrior.
Boston Globe Review
Tracking a sea change in a nascent nation and its navy
".......it is in telling the story of its beginnings in the "guerrilla navy" of the Revolution that "If By Sea" willl have enduring innterest to naval history buffs."
Michael Kenney is a freelance writer who lives in Cambridge, Mass
".......it is in telling the story of its beginnings in the "guerrilla navy" of the Revolution that "If By Sea" willl have enduring innterest to naval history buffs."
Michael Kenney is a freelance writer who lives in Cambridge, Mass
The Star-Leger, Newark, NJ Review
"This superbly achieved intensely researched history of the U.S. Navy is, in a way, an enterprise in second-guessing - brilliant second-guessing - by a writer with the advantage of 200 years of hindsight."................
Tom Mackin served as a U.S. Navy correspondent in World War II. He lives in Lakewood, NJ.
Tom Mackin served as a U.S. Navy correspondent in World War II. He lives in Lakewood, NJ.
The Post and Currier, Charlestown, SC Review
" "If By Sea" is a commendable book in concept and accurately accounts for the development of the American Navy in the context of ongoing Revolutionary events. ................., this work is a praiseworthy addition to American naval history."
Ben Moise, is a writer who lives in Charleston, SC.
Ben Moise, is a writer who lives in Charleston, SC.
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