“A compulsively readable tribute to ‘the miracle of mass production.”

“A sweeping intellectual history viewed through two ancient Greek lenses . . . breezy and enthusiastic but resting on a sturdy rock of research.”

“Deeply researched and engagingly written, this is a gripping account of great battles won and lost, of a triumphant war followed by a failed peace, and of clashing ideologies that shaped a century.”

“A cracking good read and a model of intelligent concision. To Rule the Waves is likely to become the standard one-volume history of the Royal Navy. From the epic sailing battles of the 16th century to the coda of the Falkland Islands War in 1982, from Hawkins and Drake to Nelson and Fisher, all the navy’s great episodes and characters are brought alive for the reader. . . . It also places the Royal Navy in its political context, showing how it created one of the first global systems, one that still influences the world today.”

“A rarely told industrial saga, rich with particulars of the growing pains and eventual triumphs of American industry . . . Arthur Herman has set out to right an injustice: the loss, down history’s memory hole, of the epic achievements of American business in helping the United States and its allies win World War II.”

“Cutting through decades of narrow or shallow reporting, Arthur Herman offers a balanced and elegant account which captures both Churchill’s generosity of spirit and Gandhi’s greatness of soul. While recognizing their faults, he shows what motivated them and made them great—with impressive research that in Churchill’s words leaves “no stone unturned, no cutlet uncooked.” The last two chapters, and the author’s Conclusion, are alone worth the price of what must become the standard work on the subject.”