Mapping Naval Warfare: A Visual His-tory of Conflict at Sea

摘要

Professor Jeremy Black's Mapping Naval Warfare is more than a book of maps. As its subtitle explains, it is a visual history of conflict at sea that includes manuscripts, maps, charts, prints, paintings, and drawings. Black's richly illustrated volume provides a broad general history of naval warfare across the centuries. In the broadest strokes, his text summarizes the general history of naval warfare and gives a useful overview of the subject, while at the same time focusing on his theme: the use of maps in naval warfare. The author has chosen his words for the title carefully; he does mean "maps" and not "charts." The work is not an illustrated history of naval hydrographic activity, but rather a survey of the manner in which maps and diagrams have been used to supplement written texts in explaining naval operations, while at the same time presenting a summary of naval history.