If Mahan Ran the Great Pacific War: An Analysis of World War II Naval Strat egy

US: Indiana University Press, 2008. Hardback. Near Fine/Near Fine. Alfred Thayer Mahan's The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1660-1783) w as one of the most influential books on military strategy in the first half of the 20th century. A core text in the naval war colleges of the United S tates, Britain, and Japan, Mahan's book shaped doctrine for the conduct of war at sea. Adams uses Mahan's ideas to discuss the great Pacific sea battl es of World War II and to consider how well they withstood the test of actu al combat. Reexamining the conduct of war in the Pacific from a single anal ytic viewpoint leads to some surprising conclusions about the Japanese atta ck on Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Raid, the Battle of the Coral Sea, the re capture of the Philippines, and the submarine war. Naval historians and arm chair strategists alike will find much food for thought in these engrossing pages.