In a preface to this beautifully illustrated book, Paul Kennedy explains that he had not intended, at first, to write a new naval history of World War II. His friend Ian Marshall, a celebrated maritime artist, asked him to write a foreword and accompanying text for a new collection of original paintings. In 2016, as the project was getting underway, Marshall died unexpectedly, and Kennedy resolved to finish it. As the work proceeded, the scope of the book expanded, and the result is a sweeping history of the world’s six major navies between 1936 and 1946, accompanied by 53 color reproductions of Marshall’s paintings depicting warships of that era.
For the illustrations alone, “Victory at Sea” is worth the hardcover price. Marshall’s minimalist watercolor brushstrokes create an immersive, impressionistic sensation; you can almost whiff the salt breeze and hear the gulls. With a fine eye for detail and close attention to accuracy, the artist depicts ships of every fleet in scenes all over the world. They are superbly reproduced in this volume.
In a long and justly renowned career, Kennedy has won all the accolades his profession has to offer. Born in the far northeast of England, he earned his doctorate at Oxford and has spent most of his career at Yale, where he is the J. Richardson Dilworth professor of history. His best-known book, published in 1987, is “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers,” a five-century history of Western empires that touched off a spirited debate in Washington defense and foreign policy circles. The book was required reading for intellectuals and policymakers of the Reagan era and a rite of passage for Generation X history majors, among them this reviewer.
