Review
Revisionist and radical though it may seem, Lambert's work is surely one of the best books ever published by the Naval Institute Press. The Neptune Factor: Alfred Thayer Mahan and the Concept of Sea Power is a deeply researched, clearly argued, and thought-provoking history of Mahan and his writings. .... Whether as applicable history or a detailed revision of prior interpretations, Neptune Factor succeeds. One cannot help but see pulled quotes and bureaucratic or political dynamics that have their analogy today. .... Go read Neptune Factor.
--Proceedings, May 2024
.[Lambert's] method, as in all his work, is not to proceed from received wisdom about his subject, but to go back to the original sources. The result is a book that explains - far better than any account of Mahan known to me - why he is still read in Beijing today, and why he would repay closer reading in Washington.
... [This] book underscores just how unfortunate the loss of the historical Mahan to myth has been, and why it is so important to recover him today. Manifestly, Lambert's Mahan-in-full is more relevant to contemporary US national-security policy than the legendary Mahan obsessed with "kinetic" combat operations. Does a conflict with China seem more likely to center on a Midway-style clash of aircraft carriers, or does it seem more likely to center on economic warfare, via deliberate derangement of the infrastructure of the global trading system in this, humanity's second era of globalized world trade?
--Defence and Aerospace Report, February 2024
Lambert's new study of Alfred Thayer Mahan offers a fascinating and convincing series of arguments about a topic of clear relevance for today: sea power. [As he] traces the maturation of Mahan's ideas about sea power, the reader gets fresh accounts of Mahan's activities between articles and books ..... The author closes the work by looking forward and broaching the idea that Mahan's ideas about the utility of sea power should replace the outdated "power projection" roles proposed in the 1950s by Samuel Huntington for the Cold War (pp. 339-41), precisely because the great "commons" are once again contested in the 21st century. ... Lambert's work here is vital and provides a means to understand why Mahan's intellectual sea power odyssey is still important today.
-- Journal of Military History, April 2024.
Reports from various think tanks, other organizations, and media have warned of a maritime crisis for years. Their voices echo that of the patron saint of modern navalists, Alfred Thayer Mahan. In this environment, a timely new book revisits a century-old topic, enlightens readers with previously undiscovered research, and corrects misinterpretations. In reading the entirety of Mahan's published works and discovering previously buried correspondence, Lambert resurrects the first American navalist in a way that challenges those who venerate him. This extraordinarily well-researched book outlines the need for a properly sized navy to support national goals and economic stability."
--The National Interest, February, 2024.
[A]welcome addition to the literature, helping readers to understand not only Mahan but also the role of sea power. ... Lambert's book arrives in the midst of another round of the sea power debate in the United States. The central question is an old one: can the United States maintain its position merely by controlling the seas, or does it need ways to project power deep inside the continents?
--Law and Liberty, April 2024.
From the Inside Flap
Foreword by Admiral James Stavridis, USN (Ret.)
Supreme Allied Commander, NATO, 2009-2013;
Dean, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, 2013-2018;
Chair, Board of Trustees, the Rockefeller Foundation.
From the Back Cover
Often quoted but seldom read, Alfred Thayer Mahan is sometimes dismissed as little more than a pedantic and parochial advocate of big fleets and decisive naval battles. In this brilliant new intellectual biography, Nicholas Lambert demonstrates, to the contrary, that Mahan was actually a profound analyst of the strategic implications of globalization. Original, provocative, and compelling, Lambert's book traces the evolution of Mahan's thought and demonstrates its contemporary relevance. Essential reading for scholars, strategists, and naval officers alike.
—Prof. Aaron L. Friedberg, Princeton University. Author of Getting China Wrong and A Contest for Supremacy: China, America, and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia
Although the title suggests a rather narrowly focused account, The Neptune Factor is a far-reaching reappraisal of Mahan and his interpreters from the 1890s to the present. Lambert's insightful and readable book places Mahan's work firmly within the context of his times. In the course of so doing the author explodes a number of widely accepted Mahan myths and shows the origins and processes of the American naval revival and subsequent rise to world power status to have been far more nuanced and complicated than suggested by earlier authors. Both historians and warfighters should benefit by reading this provocative book.
—Prof. Ronald H. Spector (Emeritus), author of Professors of War and Eagle Against the Sun.
This book is essential reading for all serious students of naval history and contemporary geopolitics. Nick Lambert's discovery of important new archival sources and a careful reconsideration of Mahan's well-known published writing, has enabled him to produce a transformative study of Captain Alfred Mahan's signature idea—namely the concept of Sea Power. He shows that Mahan, far from being a simplistic advocate of decisive battle, had a sophisticated understanding of the connections between naval force and international economics. Lambert's revelations will go far to restore Mahan's stature as the premier thinker on the role of navies in world affairs.
—Prof. Jon T. Sumida (Emeritus), author of Inventing Grand Strategy and Teaching Command: The Classic Works of Alfred Thayer Mahan Reconsidered.
About the Author
Nicholas Lambert completed his undergraduate and graduate degrees at Oxford University. He was the Class of 1957 Chair at the U.S. Naval Academy from 2016 to 2018. His previous books include Sir John Fisher’s Naval Revolution, Planning Armageddon, and The War Lords and the Gallipoli Disaster.
