The Command of the Ocean
by Nicholas Rodger
Allen Lane, Penguin / National Maritime Museum  pp907

Reading the output of some modern historians, especially those working in TV, one could be forgiven for thinking that Britain is simply part of mainland Europe. There is too little understanding of the vital role the sea has played in this country's history and in the shaping of our identity and culture. As for the navy's contribution to the defence of freedom or the protection and nurturing of our trade and, thus, our economy - that is a subject best left to enthusiasts and not worth the attention of mainstream scholars.

But a change is under way. Recently, there has been an surge of scholarly interest in maritime and naval history. A number of universities - London (King's College), Aberdeen, Exeter, Hull, Greenwich and Portsmouth - now offer courses in maritime studies. The acknowledged leader of this quiet academic revolution is Nicholas Rodger, professor of naval history at Exeter University.

Nearly 20 years ago, he wrote The Wooden World, a rare book that merits the adjective 'seminal'. In it, he reversed more than a century of misconceptions about the social history of the 18th-century navy. The ludicrously brutal image of 'rum, sodomy and the lash' was replaced with a carefully drawn picture of a complex and finely balanced structure that reflected the civilian society it served. Rodger made such a convincing case that it is difficult now to understand why we ever believed all the old baloney in the first place.