War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865

摘要

Reviewed by Noah Andre Trudeau A book covering the sprawl and layering of naval events of the American Civil War in 227 pages of text qualifies as a compact history, though its publisher doesn't advertise it as such. There are challenges aplenty in writing such a succinct work: what to include and leave out, who to emphasize and who to diminish, and, most important (for me, at least), how to balance the large sweep of events against individual stories that humanize the saga.