• To Rule the Waves

  • How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World
  • By: Arthur Herman
  • Narrated by: John Curless
  • Length: 29 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,077 ratings)

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To Rule the Waves

By: Arthur Herman
Narrated by: John Curless
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Publisher's summary

To Rule the Waves tells the extraordinary story of how the British Royal Navy allowed one nation to rise to a level of power unprecedented in history. From the navy's beginnings under Henry VIII to the age of computer warfare and special ops, historian Arthur Herman tells the spellbinding tale of great battles at sea, heroic sailors, violent conflict, and personal tragedy - of the way one mighty institution forged a nation, an empire, and a new world.

This P.S. edition features extra insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

©2004 Arthur Herman (P)2016 Recorded Books
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about To Rule the Waves

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    5 out of 5 stars

Superb and easy to listen to.

Manages to bridge the gap between heavy intense history and a superb adventure story. One of the best general histories of the Royal Navy I have yet read. Much easier to listen to, and obviously less detailed than Massie's books but also far broader in scope.

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16 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

good read, but very biased

Well written and entertaining, but extremely pro-british and tends to avoid talking as much as possible any battle the British navy didn't win, regardless of how important or anything unethical the navy was involved with.

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14 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Better Than Expected. Don't Miss it!

What made the experience of listening to To Rule the Waves the most enjoyable?

Balanced, intelligent, honest;

What other book might you compare To Rule the Waves to and why?

There are a host of books on the Royal Navy, some that go into significantly more detail; but the author of this one selects just the right balance of detail to show how the institution developed and what it has done to help create some of the better features of the current global system.

Which scene was your favorite?

Nelson at Trafalga.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It gave me a more nuanced appreciation of the Royal Navy as an institution.

Any additional comments?

I would like to take the author to dinner.

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13 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very entertaining though slightly biased

A little too much the view that the Royal navy had such à decisive role in history. Still, many little known details, and very complete. Very well read.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fabulous if you're a nautical junkie. A favorite!

What made the experience of listening to To Rule the Waves the most enjoyable?

The author's absolute familiarity with a huge subject yet never tedious in the details. Riveting, but again, mainly for sailing ship/war/history junkies. Will make you want to read more about Drake, Hawkes, Bing, Nelson.

What does John Curless bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

It's like he wrote it, with an immense tapestry of interesting detail at his fingertips.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

How Britannia Ruled the Waves. And why Western Civilization owes so much to the Royal Navy.

Any additional comments?

Do you have more by this author?

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9 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

An interesting slightly biased overview narrative

The narrative starts with the Elizabethan "navy" of pirates and continues until the Falkland Islands War. The information is generally correct although the author is unambiguously pro-British and pro-navy. This dictates a lot of the material covered with victories covered exhaustively and defeats skated past like the Battle of the Chesapeake.

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9 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Sweeping historical overview, great telling

Great story telling and wonderful overview of the importance of the Royal Navy on the modern world. The author has a point he’s trying to make and often portrays events to make his point. Well done narration and great story telling.

Do check facts as they are sometimes bent to breaking to make a point. Example the author states that the Royal Navy captured Baltimore during the 1812 war, whilst in-fact the battle of Baltimore is the inspiration for the US National Anthem celebrating the fact Baltimore withstood the Navy’s assault.

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5 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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british swoon

i am surprised he did not credit the british navy with building noahs ark too.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

An excellent story, not often told

I'd always heard vague descriptions of the British Navy, but never been able to find any sort of in depth look at them, or if I have it's lacked the context for its meaning to have any impact.

This book not only touches on the important details of the navy's evolution, but also does so in the context of world events. In this way the author crafts a narrative which drew me in from start to finish.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great History from the British perspective

This is an excellent book to satiate history addiction. This is a walk starting with the conflict with the Spanish up to the Falkland Islands and everything in between. Entire books could be written about any one of these engagements or wars. I highly recommend it.

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3 people found this helpful