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PACIFIC HISTORICAL
REVIEW
forward(J.K. Fairbank),a table of officialranks,a genealogicalchart
of late Ch'ing rulers, a glossary,maps, a brief historyof the correspondence, and an excellent introductionby L. K. Little,the last
I. G.
The correspondence is a monumentto the labors of Hart in the
serviceof China. It is, indeed, "a principalhistoricalsource forthelast
half centuryof the Ch'ing dynastyand its relationswith the West"
(Fairbank, p. xi). Though imperialism and all its trappingsincluding the MaritimeCustoms Service-have now been rejectedby
the Chinese and abandoned by the West, Hart's achievementstill
merits the attentionof a world which cannot avoid either bureaucracy or its own history.
JACQUESM. DOWNS
St. FrancisCollege,Biddeford,
Maine
Lettersand Papers of AlfredThayerMahan. Edited by ROBERT SEAGERII
and DORIS D. MAGUIRE. (Annapolis, Md., Naval Institute Press,
1975. Vol. I: 1847-1889, xvii + 718 pp., Vol. II: 1890-1901,
xiii + 745 pp., Vol. III: 1902-1914, xiii + 873 pp. $85.50)
Alfred Thayer Mahan (1840-1914), naval officer,historian,biographer, naval analyst,popular writer,and one of thefoundingfaculty
of the U.S. Naval War College is properlymemorializedin thesethree
handsome volumes. The largest portion of their space consistsof
Mahan's personal, official,and business correspondence between
November 10, 1847 (a letter to his maternal grandmother) and
November 21, 1914 (a note to Dr. J. FranklinJameson,historianand
manuscriptcurator at the Libraryof Congress). All lettershave been
presented in full, with only enough editing to assure clarityand
enough editorial comment to identifythe recipients,persons mentioned, or subjects that are not understandablein the contextof the
letters.A substantialnumberof letters(626) were not printedbecause
theyare "of a routinesortwhichadd littleto an understandingof the
man, his historicalworks,or thenavyin whichhe served"(III, 733); but
there is a calendar of these letterswith a guide to theircontents.In
addition to the letters,thereis printeda drearydiarykeptduringthe
years 1868-1869, and in the thirdvolume a potpourriof unpublished
speeches, remarks,officialreports,and articles.Included withthelast
group are a fewnewspaper articles,usuallylettersto theeditor,which
even the mostdiligentresearcherwould probablymiss.Four excellent
indexes (general, ships, bibliography,judgments and opinions) are
very useful in leading the reader to subjectsof interest.
The topics covered by these writingsare as varied as the career and
interestsof Mahan himself.There is much on the Naval Academy
ReviewsofBooks
523
during the yearshe attended (1855-1859); nothingdirectlyabout the
Civil War period, except in some later lettersconcerned with his
research about the war's naval campaign; a good deal concerning
serviceon foreignstationsaboard obsoletevessels;an occasional letter
which provides an insightinto the political views of Mahan; much
about the battle to keep the Naval War College in Newport,and the
construction of the main building, but almost nothing about the
curriculum; and a very interestingrun of lettersdealing with the
Captain's European tourof duty,followingpublicationof TheInfluence
ofSea PoweronHistory(1890), and his treatmentas a literarylion. There
are excellentletterswhichshow Mahan's attitudestowardmodernizing
the navy, acquiring colonies and naval stations,and strengthening
relations withGreat Btitain.As mightbe expected, there are a great
many letterswhich add to the naval analyses he expounded in his
articlesand books. For thehistorian,itis possibleto followtheresearch,
writing,and pains of publicationof Mahan's greatestworks afterhis
1890 success. Given the problemsof publicationtoday,itis amazingto
find an historianabsolutelybeset by offersto buy anythinghe would
writeand pressed to startanother major workbeforethe galleysare
read on a currentendeavor.
The editors have done a splendid job and the Naval Institutehas
earned the gratitudeof those historianswho wantto knowmore about
that fascinatingperiod when America began to "look outward."
GERALD E. WHEELER
San JoseState University
How theBattleship
Maine was Destroyed.
By H. G. RICKOVER.
(WashingU.S.
of
the
xv + 173 pp. $5.70)
1976.
ton, D.C.,
Dept.
Navy,
In September 1974 Admiral Hyman G. Rickoverread a newspaper
article about the sinkingof the Maine. Its revelation"thatno one had
yetdeterminedwhethertheMaine had been destroyedbya mineor an
accidental explosion" (p. vii)led Rickover,longinterestedin theorigins
of American expansionism,to commence a new investigationof the
battleship's destruction. The resulting volume includes Rickover's
careful narrativeof the policydecisionsthatput theMaine in Havana
harbor on February 15, 1898, and the naval inquiriesthatfollowedits
explosion, a modern examinationby naval experts of the technical
evidence thatthe inquiriesproduced, and supportingpapers on other
theMaine
aspects of the case. Rickoverbelievesthat"In all probability,
was destroyedby an accidentwhichoccurredinside theship" (p. 104),
and he blames the failureto consultqualifiedexpertsfor the conclusions in 1898 and 1911 bythe naval boards thatan externalexplosion
sank the ship.