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Rickover: The Struggle for Excellence, by Francis Duncan (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD, 2001, 416pp, illus, notes, sources, index, ISB N 1-55750-177-7; $37.50hc) When a delegation of Soviet naval officers came to Washington in 1972 to negotiate a naval agreemenr, rhey felt honored to be invited to dinner with the one American admiral they accorded legendary status: Admiral Hyman G. Rickover. To understand how rhis Polish-born emigre became so respected within rhe upper Soviet naval echelon , ir would be well worth reading Francis Duncan's biography of rhe admiral. Duncan, a former historian with the Atomic Energy Commission, occasionally rode on sea trials with the admiral and had frequent chats with him . With the cooperation of Rickover's second wife, Duncan also gained access to personal correspondence and other materials. As rhe man who brought America's naval nuclear propulsion program to fruition, Rickover demanded the highest engineering standards, as he understood that a Chernobyl-type incident involving one of his naval reactors would have the gravest consequences. In his struggle for excellence, his abrasive sryle aggravated many. Yet he managed to confound his foes for more than three decades, staying on active duty long past the mandatory retirement age of 64. How did Rickover pull it off? Duncan demonstrates rhar the admiral's early years growing up in Chicago and his early career in the Navy served to shape his persona. Rickover also crafted unique organizational relationships thar had him working for bosses inside and outside of rhe Defense Department and fostered close relations with legislators and presidents. In studying Rickover, Duncan also provides insights in to US naval history and rhe Pentagon's frequently mishandled weapons procurement programs. In summary, rhis is a valuable contribution to naval historiography. As for those Soviet naval officers-they had to endure a stern Rickover chewing rhem our over the safety inadequacies of their naval reactor program. DAV1D F. WI N KLER, PHD Naval Historical Foundation Washington DC
Merchants and Marvels: Commerce, Science and Art in Early Modern Europe, edited by Pamela H. Smith and Paula Findlen (Ro utledge, New York NY & London UK, 2002, 442pp, illus, index, ISBN 0415-928 15-X; $27.95pb) A cenrral thesis of rhe volume is that commerce in specimens and artistic represenration of nature featured centrally in the development of"natural philosophy" into "science" during 1500s and 1600s. Collectively, the papers argue that just as works of arr became important commodities in the expanding global eco nom y, so rhe commodification of natural objects had a similar impact on the development of scientific practice. Maritime-inclined readers will be most interested in those chapters thar directly address products of global commerce and rheir impact on how science was undertaken. One chapter discusses tensions among rhe makers of early 16th-century Spanish sea charts, based in conflicting demands for politically or navigationally useful products. Another examines 1Sthcentury London as rhe center of scientific instrument manufacturing and the manner in which instruments were advertised to and shopped for by rhe public. This volume grew our of a conference of rhe History of Science Society and a subsequent workshop organized by UCLA's Center for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Studies. The ed itors are historians at Pomona College and Stanford University, respectively, although rhe authors draw widely from the fields of arr history and of science and cultural studies as well. In total, the volume is a rhoughrful addition to rhe growing literature rhat incorporates objects, their conrexr and their meaning into rhe broader historical discourse. DANIEL FINAMORE
Peabody Essex Museum Salem, Massachusetts Wooden Ships from Texas, A World War I Saga, by Richard W. Bricker (Texas A&M University, Coll ege Srarion TX, 1998, 2 l 6pp, illus, bib! io , index, lSBN 089096-817-6; $29.95hc) The history of shipbuilding in World War I has; been approached in numerous publicatioins, bur in rhis reviewer's opinion Richard Bricker's book is of particularly high historical value in rwo areas of reSEA HISTORY 10 l , SUMMER 2002