Science, utility and maritime power: Samuel Bentham in Russia, 1779-91

Abstract

globalisation, economic history, organisational history, the history of science, medicine and technology, social history, and cultural history, among others. The purpose of the chapter is to bring the current debates in naval history to their current standing, illustrating where scholarship currently focuses and illuminating issues that still call for attention. In writing this book, Harding has produced a very effective and informative tool for researchers, particularly those from neighbouring fields that could find use in examining the history of seapower. Interested laymen will also find this book thought-provoking, particularly if they are fond of reading the histories discussed within. However, what seems most excited about this book is its value to graduate students or new researchers with aspirations of studying naval history, or even more broad interests in military history. This reviewer has already added it as the first book to be read and discussed in his graduate seminar, ‘Naval Warfare 1850–1950’, in coming semesters. Many graduate students will also undoubtedly be thankful for Harding’s detailed depiction of the historiography of the subject, and also get use from the book’s 97 pages of notes and bibliography. This book will undoubtedly prove to be an initial navigational chart for many future research projects. History professors teaching naval history will find it invaluable for student understanding of the broad issues interwoven throughout the subject. Seasoned researchers will find it a valuable reference. Importantly, those in adjacent historical fields, of which Harding describes many, would do well to pick through this book for the potential contributions of naval history to their own research. In this book, we have a tool that does what it says on the tin. It explains the importance of naval history, ‘how it developed, what its contribution has been and thus what are the lacunae, the opportunities for new questions, new research and even new a new agenda for naval history’ (2). By putting the historiography into context, Harding has produced a sophisticated study of the literature that will guide readers through past and present state of the discipline, and will certainly influence the future of naval history.