Non-Fiction Releases
This section lists upcoming and recently released non-fiction books about the Age of Sail. They will also appear in the Non-Fiction Listings
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- By: Antoine Vanner
- Non-Fiction Releases
In a departure from his Dawlish Chronicles series, Antoine Vanner has a new Age of Sail non-fiction book available for pre-order. Broadside and Boarding: Small scale action in the Age of Fighting Sail will be released for kindle download worldwide on 7 December 2024. Antoine has a popular blog which features these smaller scale actions and the book will doubtless be a good read.
Forgotten epics of the Age of Fighting Sail, 1740-1815
There were few great fleet battles such as Trafalgar during the total forty years of naval warfare waged by Britain across this era. Between these major encounters, however, were myriads of desperate but small-scale actions. Each in isolation could be local in its impact but they were, in aggregate, influential at the wider strategic level.
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- By: N. A. M. Rodger
- Non-Fiction Releases
N. A. M. Rodger recently released the final volume in his naval history trilogy. The Price of Victory: A Naval History of Britain 1815 - 1945, is now available worldwide for Kindle and also in Hardcover in the UK.
At the end of the French and Napoleonic wars, British sea-power was at its apogee. But by 1840, as one contemporary commentator put it, the Admiralty was full of ‘intellects becalmed in the smoke of Trafalgar’. How the Royal Navy reformed and reinvigorated itself in the course of the nineteenth century is just one thread in this magnificent book, which refuses to accept standard assumptions and analyses.
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- By: Robert F. Weir (Andrew W. German-Editor)
- Non-Fiction Releases
Robert F. Weir's new book edited by Andrew W. German, The Watch's Wild Cry: A Voyage Aboard the Whaling Vessel Clara Bell, will be published worldwide for Kindle on 5 November 2024. The Hardcover version will be released on the same day in the US and on 5 January 2025 in the UK. It is now available for pre-order.
At the age of nineteen, Robert F. Weir of West Point, New York, ran away to sea, where he spent the next ten years of his life. Assuming the pseudonym Robert Wallace, Weir sailed aboard the bark Clara Bell out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 1855 for a voyage to the whaling grounds of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
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- By: Philip MacDougall
- Non-Fiction Releases
Philip MacDougall's new book, The Naval Mutinies of 1798: The Irish Plot to Seize the Channel Fleet, is now available worldwide for Kindle and also in Hardcover in the UK. The US Hardcover will be released on 31 August 2024.
For Ireland, the year 1798 saw a major rebellion breaking out against rule from London, a time in which Britain was in its fifth year of a hard-fought war against revolutionary France. Set in motion by the Society of United Irishmen, an underground organisation with links to Paris, the rebellion was eventually crushed by an overwhelming force of arms. In this new, dramatic account, Philip MacDougall shines a light on a little covered aspect of this history: the United Irish plot to capture a number of British warships and the planned use of those vessels in support of the rebellion that broke out in 1798.
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- By: Roger Crowley
- Non-Fiction Releases
Roger Crowley's new book, Spice: The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World, is now available worldwide for Kindle. The UK Hardcover will be released on 15 May 2024 and the US Hardcover on 18 June 2024 when the Audiobooks will also be released worldwide.
The story of the sixteenth-century’s epic contest for the spice trade, which propelled European maritime exploration and conquest across Asia and the Pacific
Spices drove the early modern world economy, and for Europeans they represented riches on an unprecedented scale. Cloves and nutmeg could reach Europe only via a complex web of trade routes, and for decades Spanish and Portuguese explorers competed to find their elusive source. But when the Portuguese finally reached the spice islands of the Moluccas in 1511, they set in motion a fierce competition for control.
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- By: Sean Kingsley & Rex Cowan
- Non-Fiction Releases
Sean Kingsley & Rex Cowan's new book, The Pirate King: The Strange Adventures of Henry Avery and the Birth of the Golden Age of Piracy, will be available worldwide for Kindle and Hardcover on 2 April 2024 and is now available for pre-order.
The incredible story of the "Robin Hood of the Seas," who absconded with millions during the Golden Age of Piracy and who harbored an even greater secret.
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- By: Peter J. Emanuel Jr.
- Non-Fiction Releases
Peter J. Emanuel Jr.'s new book, Course Change: The Whaleship Stonington in the Mexican-American War, will be available worldwide for Kindle on 5 March 2024. The US Paperback will be released on the same day and the UK Paperback on 5 May 2024. It is now available for pre-order.
The Stonington, a whaleship from New London, Connecticut, is sailing a course for home after being at sea for more than three years. When it pulls into San Diego, California in September 1846 for food and supplies, the crew learns that war has broken out between the United States and Mexico. The town is under siege by Mexican forces, leaving the US inhabitants no escape route but the sea. In response to their desperate situation, the Stonington’s captain allows them to take refuge aboard his ship. Thus begins the first step in what would become the Stonington’s months-long tour of duty as a member of the US Navy’s Pacific Squadron.
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- By: Shane Granger
- Non-Fiction Releases
Shane Granger's new book, Cargo of Hope: Voyages of the Humanitarian Ship Vega, will be available worldwide for Kindle on 6 February 2024. The US Paperback will be released on the same day and the UK Paperback on 6 April 2024. It is now available for pre-order.
This is the story of the historic ship Vega's first missions of mercy-a real-life sea tale complete with vicious storms, exotic locations, heart-rending moments, and priceless glimpses into real life on some of the world's most remote tropical islands. In December 2004, Shane Granger and his partner, Meggi Macoun, had just completed a sailing odyssey from South Africa to Malaysia and were enjoying a well-earned siesta when the Boxing Day Tsunami changed their lives forever. In a matter of hours, unstoppable waves, often over ten meters high, demolished cities not only in Malaysia but also as far away as Sri Lanka, Thailand, and East Africa, making it the deadliest tsunami in recorded history. With thousands of people suddenly in dire need, Shane and Meggi loaded their vessel with donated food and medical supplies, then set sail for Sumatra to deliver aid.
