To Rule the Waves

How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World

By: Arthur Herman

Narrated by: John Curless

To Rule the Waves tells the extraordinary story of how the British Royal Navy allowed one nation to rise to a level of power unprecedented in history. From the navy's beginnings under Henry VIII to the age of computer warfare and special ops, historian Arthur Herman tells the spellbinding tale of great battles at sea, heroic sailors, violent conflict, and personal tragedy - of the way one mighty institution forged a nation, an empire, and a new world.

This P.S. edition features extra insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

©2004 Arthur Herman (P)2016 Recorded Books

Superb and easy to listen to.

Manages to bridge the gap between heavy intense history and a superb adventure story. One of the best general histories of the Royal Navy I have yet read. Much easier to listen to, and obviously less detailed than Massie's books but also far broader in scope.

Nice

Well done, but the Brits didn't take Baltimore. Oh say can you see by the dawns early light?

Good listen...very interesting and informative.

Did seem to in the later years become less informative and not as well written.

Best ever

Wonderful book. Entertaining and enlightening. Perhaps best history book I've ever encountered and I've read a lot of them

excellent history

only one gripe: The history flowed well except for a portion in the 1820s thru 1890s where all the technological changes were discussed. some of theseninvolved a lot of jumping backward or forwards in time.

Aside from that this was one of the most interesting books I've listened to.

Great history of the making of the British Navy !

I served in the Army , so I didn't know alot about Naval History . Loved documentaries/movies (historical) about ships and naval warfare . Maybe something to do with touring the Battle Ship Texas so much . ( The world's last WW1 Dreadnought) .
This book is very informative . It also explains how Britain became an Empire , because of that navy . A navy that started out as basically pirates for the state ! And just laden with dates and places . Some of the things people experienced on this early ships and trips . Especially to the tropics ! From Hawkins and Drake , Cook and Bligh , to Admiral Nelson . A personal background on the times and people , and battles . Excellent narration !

Surprisingly entertaining

These types of books can easily turn dry and a chore to finish but there is a healthy amount of narrative for each era. Turns on the history go by really quickly since it couldn’t add all the details for 400 years. It covered everything in a good balance between detail and moving the book along.

Interesting slant on English history.

to say it was one sided is putting it mildly. All was accomplished by men from Devon and Cornwall. the Scots (except for John Paul Jones), the Welsh and the Irish don't even get a side comment. everything was accomplished by men from England alone and them only because of the leadership of men from the west country. the American revolution and the War of 1812 are compared to the Tahitian uprising and nothing more. if you take it with a side wise grin it's OK. The Author is full of himself, the reader was good. But one must remember the royal Navy was British not English

Outstanding

This was a generally outstanding treatment of the British Navy. My only complaint is that AKK of World War II is covered in one chapter, otherwise great book!

Epic meta-biographical narrative!

Herman’s hagiography of the royal navy paints a picture, not just of the navy’s a a thing in itself, but of the experience of the navy and its place in defining the world today. Where the book excels is in retelling the history we thought we knew - The defeat of the spanish armada, which was more of a stalemate, the squashing of the Dutch, the role of the navy in the english revolutions of the 17th century (which were always enigmatic to me),
all the way up to the Faulklands war.
I thought there were a few missed opportunities - one that stood out would have been highlighting the Louisiana purchase in France’s loss of colonial possessions.

The narrative was good and John Curless seems to care deeply about the subject matter, but microphone problems caused lost words in the first part of the book. It got better after the first few hours but was a flaw in an otherwise enjoyable story!