Jeremiah Reynolds and the empire of knowledge -- The United States exploring expedition as Jacksonian capitalism -- The United States exploring expedition in popular culture -- The Dead Sea expedition and the empire of faith -- Proslavery explorations of South America -- Arctic exploration and US-UK rapprochement.

The Royal Australian Navy is at a watershed moment in its history. Major reinvestment following the 2016 Defence White Paper will see it re-equipped with offshore patrol boats, a new class of frigate, a modern and expanded submarine force and an air warfare destroyer. How does the Navy best prepare for the future? Vice Admiral Tim Barrett forcefully argues the answer is by reimagining the way the Navy views itself, especially its domestic and international relationships. In The Navy and the Nation Vice Admiral Barrett outlines the extensive opportunities for the service and Australia if the Navy is embraced as a national enterprise.

Australia has often been described as a nation shaped by war. From an early age, every Australian is taught the significance of Gallipoli and the Anzac legend. This, however, is but one dimension of the military's impact on our nation's coming of age. Australia, after all, is an island. It was the Navy which explored and founded European Australia, and it is the Navy which has ever since been critical to our national security. With its ancestry in the Royal Navy and the former colony-based navies, the Australian Navy was established in 1901. Since that time it has helped Australia enter the international community as a modern, self-reliant nation and has been indispensable in protecting Australia's sovereignty and national interests. Despite the Navy being one of Australia's oldest and most important institutions, the links between nation-building and the Navy have never before received detailed study. Bringing together scholars from Australia and overseas, The Navy and the Nation examines the extent of the Navy's contribution to our national development. It shows, too, how the Navy has played a vital role in defining our independent national identity. A former naval officer, David Stevens is a graduate of the University of New South Wales and the Australian National University, and is currently Director of Strategic and Historical Studies within the Sea Power Centre - Australia. He has written and edited several books on maritime strategy and naval history. John Reeve is Senior Lecturer and Osborne Fellow in Naval History at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy. He has written extensively on early modern and contemporary diplomatic and strategic issues.

War in the Shallows, published in 2015 by the Naval History and Heritage Command, is the authoritative account of the U.S. Navy's hard-fought battle along Vietnam's rivers and coastline from 1965-1968. At the height of the U.S. Navy's involvement in the Vietnam War, the Navy's coastal and riverine forces included more than 30,000 Sailors and over 350 patrol vessels ranging in size from riverboats to destroyers. These forces developed the most extensive maritime blockade in modern naval history and fought pitched battles against Viet Cong units in the Mekong Delta and elsewhere. War in the Shallows explores the operations of the Navy's three inshore task forces from 1965 to 1968. It also delves into other themes such as basing, technology, tactics, and command and control. Finally, using oral history interviews, it reconstructs deckplate life in South Vietnam, focusing in particular on combat waged by ordinary Sailors. Vietnam was the bloodiest war in recent naval history and War in the Shallows strives above all else to provide insight into the men who fought it and honor their service and sacrifice. Illustrated throughout with photographs and maps. Author John Darrell Sherwood has served as a historian with the Naval History and Heritage Command (NHHC) since 1997. -- Provided by publisher.

Tells the story of the growing Chinese Navy - The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) - and its expanding capabilities, evolving roles and military implications for the USA. Divided into four thematic sections, this special collection of essays surveys and analyzes the most important aspects of China's navel modernization.