The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer is an 1871 novella by George Tomkyns Chesney, starting the genre of invasion literature and an important precursor of science fiction. Written just after the Prussian victory in the Franco-Prussian War, it describes an invasion of Britain by a German-speaking country referred to in oblique terms as The Other Power or The Enemy. Excerpt: "You ask me to tell you, my grandchildren, something about my share in the great events that happened fifty years ago. 'Tis sad work turning back to that bitter page in our history, but you may perhaps take profit in your new homes from the lesson it teaches. For us, in England, it came too late. And yet we had plenty of warnings if we had only made use of them."

This detailed study of the works of Stephen Bleecker Luce provides an excellent portrait of the man and a timely comment on the intellectual heritage of the U.S. Navy. Here is a look at the individual most important in bridging the gap between the age of sailing ships and that of steam driven, armored battleships. Luce had the greatest influence on his fellow officers. Luce and his associates were faced with a changing strategic environment in which the challenge was to build a Navy capable of exercising the international potential of the U.S. They faced the technological challenge of an industrial revolution and a world steeped in sociological and political change. Luce's experience will provide a useful perspective for the contemporary naval officer. Illus.

A major historical study of the global arms trade, revolving around the transfer of small arms from metropolitan Europe to the turbulent frontiers of Indian Ocean societies during the 'long' nineteenth century (c.1780-1914).