The Neptune Factor: Alfred Thayer Mahan and the Concept of Sea Power

by Nicholas A. Lambert

Winner of NOUS' 2024 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature

Capt. A.T. Mahan's central argument was that the outcome of rivalries on the seas have decisively shaped the course of modern history. Although Mahan's scholarship has long been seen as foundational to all systematic study of naval power, Neptune Factor is the first attempt to explain how Mahan's definition of sea power shifted over time.

Ordering Info: Naval Institute Press

Publisher: Naval Institute Press, 2024

Lieutenant General Edward A. Craig: Warrior Six: Combat Leader in World War II and Korea

by Richard D. Camp

Finalist for NOUS' 2024 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature

Marine historian Dick Camp knew Craig personally and has woven Craig’s own account of his service into context. Craig’s recollections are more than recitations of facts, his account of leading in World War II provides the perspective of a combat leader balancing the mission objectives with responsibility for the men he leads. His account of fighting during the Korean War section provides insight into how unprepared the United States was and how a determined, well-led Marine brigade was able to stop the North Korean advance and prevent them from overrunning South Korea.

Ordering Info: Casemate

Publisher: Casemate Publishers, 2023

Take Charge and Move Out: The Founding Fathers of TACAMO

by Lewis F. McIntyre

Finalist for NOUS' 2023 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature

The US Navy’s “Take Charge and Move Out” (TACAMO) mission provides essential airborne communications to the US nuclear deterrence forces. Today it is a thriving community, respected by the Navy and the US strategic defense forces.

But it wasn’t always so. Despite the enormous importance of the mission, for the first decade of their existence, the TACAMO squadrons did not provide a viable career path for officers, instead being a “one and done” tour for the junior officers who found themselves unluckily so assigned. A second tour in the squadrons was considered to be professional suicide. But in 1975, inspired by a significant commanding officer, a handful of lieutenants put their faith in a community that did not yet exist, betting their careers on that second tour. From their faith and courage was born the TACAMO community.

This is the story of the birth of TACAMO, in the words of those who built the community from scratch.

Ordering Info: Amazon

Publisher: Casemate, 2022

Battleship Commander: The Life of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr.

by Paul Stillwell

Winner of NOUS' 2022 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature

The first-ever biography of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr., who served a key role during World War II in the Pacific. Battleship Commander explores Lee's life from boyhood in Kentucky through his eventual service as commander of the fast battleships from 1942 to 1945. Paul Stillwell draws on more than 150 first-person accounts from those who knew and served with Lee from boyhood until the time of his death.

Ordering Info: Naval Institute Press

Publisher: Naval Institute Press, 2021