Inventing Grand Strategy and Teaching Command: The Classic Works of Alfred Thayer Mahan Reconsidered

Between 1890 and 1913, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan published a series of books on naval warfare in the age of sail, which established his reputation as the founder of modern strategic history. But Mahan's two principal arguments have been gravely misunderstood ever since, according to Jon Tetsuro Sumida. Instead of representing Mahan as an advocate of national naval supremacy, Sumida shows him asserting that only a multinational naval consortium could defend international trade. Instead of presenting Mahan as a man who adhered to strategic principles, Sumida shows that he stressed the importance of an officers's judgement and character formed by the study of history.

Table of Contents:
Preface: Musical Performance, Zen Enlightenment, and Naval Command Acknowledgments Introduction. Resolving a Paradox Chapter 1. The Development of Professional Purpose, Geopolitical Vision, and Historical Technique Chapter 2. Political, Political-Economic, and Governmental Argument in the "Influence of Sea Power" Series Chapter 3. Strategic and Professional Argument in the "Influence of Sea Power: Series Chapter 4. Strategic and Professional Argument in the Lesser Works Biography as Polemic Chapter 5. National, Transnational, and International Politics Changes of Opinion Chapter 6. The Uses of History and Theory Bibliography Select Analytical Index to the Writing of Alfred Thayer Mahan Index

About the Author :
Jon Tetsuro Sumida is associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a professional musician. He is the author of In Defence of Naval Supremacy: Finance, Technology, and British Naval Policy, 1889-1914. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and was a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in 1995-96.

Review :
The book is one of the most important on Mahan and the nature of naval command and should be studied wherever naval command is studied. Lloyd's List Sumida casts new light on one of the most important strategic writers of this century. Journal of Military History Jon Sumida's masterful explication of Mahan's thought stands out for its superb analysis, clarity and elegance of prose, masterful synthesis of the admiral's entire work and its amazing compression. Hereafter, no one interested in American naval history, Mahan's ideas, or the strategic role of sea power can rightly go without reading Sumida's slim volume. In short, it is a masterpiece. -- Brian R. Sullivan Joint Force Quarterly