Superpowers, the USA, the USSR Book

By Samuel Eliot Morison is a compilation of his notes from his more than 50 years as an historian (edited by his daughter Emily Morison Beck) on naval topics going back to Columbus and Magellan and forward to several important WWII battles as well as nautical topics, such as the voyage of the Mayflower and The Clipper Ships. His coverage of Commodore Perry's visit to and "opening" of Japan to foreigns was most interesting.

He includes wonderful tales of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and fascinating discussions of the "average" Harvard man of 1700 and The Ropemakers of Plymouth. Additionally, included are articles on noted American historians of prior centuries - William H. Prescott and Francis Parkman - as well as a discussion of the writing skill of Sir Winston Churchill, which led to his receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature, the only historian to have been so honored.

In his chapter on History As a Literary Art, he gives a most illuminating picture of why academic historians, "in their eagerness to present facts and their laudable concern to tell the truth, have neglected the literary aspects of their craft. They have forgotten that there is an art of writing history." He quotes Theodore Roosevelt: "He must remember that while the worst offense of which he (the historian) can be guilty is to write vividly and inaccurately, yet that unless he writes vividly he cannot write truthfully, for no amount of dull, painstaking detail will sum up the whole truth unless the genius is there to paint the truth." Morison goes on to suggest that "the writer of history can enrich his mind and broaden his craftmanship by his choice of leisure reading. [My retired Latin-teacher wife loved the following and totally agrees. She taught English also.] If he is so fortunate as to have had a classical education, no time will be better spent in making him an effective historian than in reading Latin and Greek authors. Both of these ancient languages are such superb instruments of thought that a knowledge of them cures slipshod English and helps one to attain a clear, muscular style." Further Morison suggested: "The reading of English classics will tend in the same direction, and will also be a painless and unconscious means of improving your literary style."

I found this compilation of Morison's writings most interesting. It was published in 1977. His first was published in 1913.

He was, arguably, one of the greatest of naval historians. Having had significant naval service during World War I, he proposed to his friend Franklin Roosevelt in early 1942 to write the naval history of this new world war "from the inside." President Roosevelt liked his idea so much that he immediately commissioned him a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve and sent him on a continuous series of active duty assignments on a wide variety of ships and other naval commands for the duration of WWII. (He retired from his naval career as a Rear Admiral.) The result was Morison's History of US Naval Operations in WWII: 15 Volume Set. I acquired 10 of these volumes (all but 5, 10, 13, 14, & 15, which I would love to acquire to complete my set) when our main library was purging books determined to be excess during a move to a new location. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Morison's account of the 1942-45 period.