It's the time of year when we celebrate the holidays by stocking up on naval books. The Naval Institute Press, which probably publishes the majority of books this blog draws on, has made everything 50% off, including stuff on the clearance shelf, if you use the code HOLIDAY at checkout, so now is definitely the time to buy.
The first recommendation I have is The Fifty Year War, Norman Friedman's excellent history of the Cold War. Things at work have calmed down, so I'm going to make this the official second selection for Naval Gazing Book Club, to kick off after Christmas. It's a little over $11 including shipping, although shipping costs per book fall if you buy more.
And if you want more, then the obvious place to start is with new releases. The selection this year is a bit anemic, but I'm particularly looking forward to the Seaforth World Naval Review 2027, Friedman's new book on British aircraft carriers in the Cold War and Aidan Dodson's on WWI RN light cruisers.
But there's a lot of good stuff in the back catalog. As always, this starts with Friedman, including the Illustrated Design History series, covering most of his books on US warships, The British Aircraft Carrier in Two World Wars, his truly excellent book on Cold War ASW, US Navy Attack Aircraft and British Cruisers of the 20th Century, which is on the sale shelf, so you should get it while you can. From other authors, there's D.K. Brown's Atlantic Escorts and Rebuilding the Royal Navy, both by a retired naval architect.
Other books worth looking at include Aircraft of the Royal Navy since 1908, which gives details on everything the RN has operated, Two Navies Divided, a single-volume overview of the USN and RN in WWII, the 14-volume set of Samuel Eliot Morison's History of US Naval Operations in World War II, or if that's too much and you want to go through the book club from earlier in the year, Morison's Two-Ocean War. For those whose interests are more recent, there's China as a 21st Century Naval Power, a deep look at the PLAN's development, and past volumes of Seaforth World Naval Review, as there's substantial new content each year. I will also mostly endorse Drachinifel's reading list, although there are a few books on there I don't have or didn't particularly like.
It's also worth checking out the "Clear the Decks" sale section, which has a ton of great stuff, much for $10-20. Standouts include The Battleship Builders, British Battleships 1919-1945, Spoils of War, about what happened to captured ships postwar, Before the Battlecruiser, The World of the Battleship, Before Jutland and David Hobb's book on the British Pacific Fleet.
There's also a lot of goodness in the regular back catalog, but I don't have time to go through and sort it out. Suffice it to say that if you want to build up a naval library, this is the time to do it.
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