Rating: 
Summary: From Sea to Shining Sea, A Great Tour
Review: I have to say right off the bat that I learned a lot reading this book. I've always been a land based military reader, and this was my first adventure to the ocean. I'm glad I went along.Mr. Keegan is by far one of the best history writers around. I didn't think that at first, but after this book I do. Just the section about Trafalgar is enough to convince me of that. WOW! Mr. Keegan appears to know everything there is to know about ships of the line, men of the ship, and every last detail of those magnificent sailing ships of long ago. The best words I can say is read this, it is worth every minute you spend. A new world awaits, and it's full of naval splendor. But wait.. There's also Jutland, Midway, and of course the Battle of the Atlantic. Prepare for a lesson is economics, human sacrifice, and the value of flour. The entire early years of WWII are cleared and described via the convoy. Amazing! And the best part, it all goes back to Trafalgar. Thank you Mr. Keegan for this book. My wooden model of the "Victory" is soon to arrive. I truly enjoyed your nautical world.
Rating:
Summary: From Sea to Shining Sea, A Great Tour
Review: I have to say right off the bat that I learned a lot reading this book. I've always been a land based military reader, and this was my first adventure to the ocean. I'm glad I went along. Mr. Keegan is by far one of the best history writers around. I didn't think that at first, but after this book I do. Just the section about Trafalgar is enough to convince me of that. WOW! Mr. Keegan appears to know everything there is to know about ships of the line, men of the ship, and every last detail of those magnificent sailing ships of long ago. The best words I can say is read this, it is worth every minute you spend. A new world awaits, and it's full of naval splendor. But wait.. There's also Jutland, Midway, and of course the Battle of the Atlantic. Prepare for a lesson is economics, human sacrifice, and the value of flour. The entire early years of WWII are cleared and described via the convoy. Amazing! And the best part, it all goes back to Trafalgar. Thank you Mr. Keegan for this book. My wooden model of the "Victory" is soon to arrive. I truly enjoyed your nautical world.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction to Naval history
Review: John Keegan has once again succeeded in writing an exciting, informative, and readable history. As with "Face of Battle" and "Mask of Command", "The Price of Admiralty" covers a long period of time, approximately two centuries. His battle descriptions are unmatched, and his understanding of the subject material--admitedly out of his expertise--is still excellent. Keegan describes the pivotal battles of the four great ages of naval warfare(though the last two occurred simultaneously): Wooden, Ironclad, Aircraft carrier, and Submarine. He charts how each advance revolutionized naval warfare, and concludes with a debate over the future of war at sea. The book itself is very well written and follows a logical progression. The only drawback is Keegan's obvious British bias. Granted for most of the time period covered "Britania ruled the waves", but I felt he did not give due credit to other nation's contributions. All in all however, it is an excellent book and a must read for anyone interested in naval history or military history in general.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction to Naval history
Review: John Keegan has once again succeeded in writing an exciting, informative, and readable history. As with "Face of Battle" and "Mask of Command", "The Price of Admiralty" covers a long period of time, approximately two centuries. His battle descriptions are unmatched, and his understanding of the subject material--admitedly out of his expertise--is still excellent. Keegan describes the pivotal battles of the four great ages of naval warfare(though the last two occurred simultaneously): Wooden, Ironclad, Aircraft carrier, and Submarine. He charts how each advance revolutionized naval warfare, and concludes with a debate over the future of war at sea. The book itself is very well written and follows a logical progression. The only drawback is Keegan's obvious British bias. Granted for most of the time period covered "Britania ruled the waves", but I felt he did not give due credit to other nation's contributions. All in all however, it is an excellent book and a must read for anyone interested in naval history or military history in general.
Rating: 
Summary: An insightful look at 4 important naval battles
Review: John Keegan has turned his formidable talent to analysing some of the most famous naval battles of the last 200 years. For each, he gives an insightful look into the recent history of the times, emphasising technological aspects of ship handling and weapons. He then breaks down the battles into easy-to-comprehend chunks, followed by an analysis of the consequences (usually political) and the more immediate cost in terms of the sailors and ships involved. While all 4 battles are famous examples of their type, Keegan seems to waffle between choosing battles that were decisive and those that were stalemates. Trafalgar was a decisive battle, but it was unusual in the Age of Sail that one navy enjoyed such a complete victory over its enemy. Alternatively, Jutland was a large battle, but the battle itself was a tactical draw in that both sides left the battle with their proportionate strengths intact. A far more decisive ironclad battle occurred at Tsushima Bay, so why didn't Keegan choose that (admitedly less famous) battle instead? The remaining two battles are from WWII - Midway and the Battle of the Atlantic. Midway was a clear U.S. victory, and the purest example of carrier-based naval conflict. The Battle of the Atlantic was ultimately decisive as well, but due to the seesaw of technological advancess, the outcome was very much in doubt for 4 years. Although the submarines lost the Battle of the Atlantic, Keegan concludes submarines are the ultimate naval weapon available today, and points to the success of the U.S. submarine offensive against Japan. If that is his conclusion, why not give an account of the Japan-U.S. conflict instead of the Battle of the Atlantic? This is nitpicking, however. The strength of the book is the masterful analysis of each individual battle. While I question the overall theme and choice of battles, each chapter in and of itself is fantastic. Therefore, it gets 4 stars, as it is inferior to Keegan's Face of Battle and Mask of Command in maintaining an overarching theme.
Rating:
Summary: Great Accessible History
Review: John Keegan's Price of Admiralty includes all that a volume of subject history should contain. There are short biographies of the major players, anecdotes that lighten as well as enlighten otherwise dry history, good overviews of the naval periods under inspection, descriptions of the major battles, facts and figures to back up his thesis, and perhaps most crucial a nearly seamless transition from period to period. Keegan examines naval warfare from the Napoleonic Wars through both the Atlantic and Pacific campaigns of the Second World War. I personally enjoyed the earlier quarter of the book pertaining to the Age of Sail- the great victories of the Battle of the Nile and Trafalgar. This is a great book if you are interested in expanding your understanding of the development of naval strategies or merely any one of the periods covered: Age of Sail and Napoleonic Wars, Transition to Steam & Ironclads, Age of Battleships and WWI, and both the Atlantic and Pacific Campaigns of WWII. Keegan is always a good read in history and this book is no exception.
Rating:
Summary: Great Accessible History
Review: John Keegan's Price of Admiralty includes all that a volume of subject history should contain. There are short biographies of the major players, anecdotes that lighten as well as enlighten otherwise dry history, good overviews of the naval periods under inspection, descriptions of the major battles, facts and figures to back up his thesis, and perhaps most crucial a nearly seamless transition from period to period. Keegan examines naval warfare from the Napoleonic Wars through both the Atlantic and Pacific campaigns of the Second World War. I personally enjoyed the earlier quarter of the book pertaining to the Age of Sail- the great victories of the Battle of the Nile and Trafalgar. This is a great book if you are interested in expanding your understanding of the development of naval strategies or merely any one of the periods covered: Age of Sail and Napoleonic Wars, Transition to Steam & Ironclads, Age of Battleships and WWI, and both the Atlantic and Pacific Campaigns of WWII. Keegan is always a good read in history and this book is no exception.
Rating:
Summary: Naval Warfare - A Dissection
Review: Keegan is one of those writers who has read and studied his subject vastly, but who is able, when necessary, to articulate his views with poinpoint precision. You never feel as if Keegan is making a throwaway generalization, and no words are wasted. Those skills and capacities he brings to his account of naval warfare since the days of fighting sail. In his first instalment, on Nelson's Trafalgar victory, he explains that naval warfare in 1805 had advanced to the same level of destructiveness as had land warfare in 1914, i.e., an appallingly high concentration of firepower over a small distance, matched only by the development of manoevre. On land, the solution was the tank; at sea, it was Nelson's method of all-or-nothing attack followed by envelopment. In other chapters we survey the Battle of Jutland (featuring some truly superb descriptions of the battleship duels), the struggle for the North Atlantic and the Battle of Midway. A brilliant essay not only for military enthusiasts but for anyone interested in general strategy.
Rating:
Summary: Naval Warfare - A Dissection
Review: Keegan is one of those writers who has read and studied his subject vastly, but who is able, when necessary, to articulate his views with poinpoint precision. You never feel as if Keegan is making a throwaway generalization, and no words are wasted. Those skills and capacities he brings to his account of naval warfare since the days of fighting sail. In his first instalment, on Nelson's Trafalgar victory, he explains that naval warfare in 1805 had advanced to the same level of destructiveness as had land warfare in 1914, i.e., an appallingly high concentration of firepower over a small distance, matched only by the development of manoevre. On land, the solution was the tank; at sea, it was Nelson's method of all-or-nothing attack followed by envelopment. In other chapters we survey the Battle of Jutland (featuring some truly superb descriptions of the battleship duels), the struggle for the North Atlantic and the Battle of Midway. A brilliant essay not only for military enthusiasts but for anyone interested in general strategy.
Rating: 
Summary: Fine Writing, Bad Facts
Review: Mr. Keegan is a wonderful writer and this book will be appealing to many as it is a good read. His research, however, leaves much to be desired, and he draws conclusions from wrong facts, facts that could have been corrected by checking standard references such as Jane's. A few examples (from many): He says that the George Washington class ballistic missile submarines have no torpedo tubes (they have 6 as either Janes or Tom Clancy will tell you). He goes on to comment about a ship on which only the President can control use of its weapons -- its missles. He says that Hornet and Enterprise carried the Doolittle B26s to raid Japan. Any American schoolkid of the fifties could tell you that Hornet carried the bombers and Enterprise was along for defense. He has Nautilus torpedoing Soryu at Midway, with three hits. She actually hit Kaga with one. (see Gordon Prange, Miracle at Midway, among many others). Keegan joins the great Samuel Eliot Morison in this mistake, but Morision was writing in the 1940s, while Keegan, writing forty years later, should have taken advantage of the great outpouring of information (particularly Jananese sources) of the 50s and 60s. I could go on... This is a reader's book, not a scholar's. Have fun with it, but don't cite it.
| 
