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Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the Conflict That Made the Modern World

Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the Conflict That Made the Modern World

£12.99 Sale

One of the most eminent historians of our age investigates the extraordinary success of five small maritime states.

Andrew Lambert, author of The Challenge: Britain Against America in the Naval War of 1812―winner of the prestigious Anderson Medal―turns his attention to Athens, Carthage, Venice, the Dutch Republic, and Britain, examining how their identities as “seapowers” informed their actions and enabled them to achieve success disproportionate to their size.

Lambert demonstrates how creating maritime identities made these states more dynamic, open, and inclusive than their lumbering continental rivals. Only when they forgot this aspect of their identity did these nations begin to decline. Recognizing that the United States and China are modern naval powers―rather than seapowers―is essential to understanding current affairs, as well as the long-term trends in world history. This volume is a highly original “big think” analysis of five states whose success―and eventual failure―is a subject of enduring interest, by a scholar at the top of his game.

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; Reprint edition (10 Dec. 2019)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 424 pages
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.7 x 3.81 x 19.69 cm

Winner of the sixth annual Gilder Lehrman Prize for Military History, sponsored by The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History


"Seapower States offers a wide-ranging analysis of how and why different seapowers have emerged and declined. In crisp and assertive prose, Lambert points out parallels and congruences between different states, arguing that they chose to construct 'seapower' identities. An impressive and important contribution."--James Davey, author of In Nelson's Wake

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