The story of our navy is nothing less than the story of Britain our culture & our empire. Much more than a parade of admirals & their battles this is the story of how an insignificant island nation conquered the world's oceans to become its greatest trading empire. Few other nations have fallen so deeply in love with a branch of the armed forces as the British did with its Navy. Yet as Ben Wilson shows there was nothing inevitable about this rise to maritime domination nor was it ever an easy path. For much of our history Britain was a third-rate maritime power on the periphery of Europe. EMPIRE OF THE DEEP also reveals how our naval history has shaped us in more subtle & surprising ways
- our language culture politics & national character all owe a great debt to this conquest of the seas. This is a gripping fresh take on our national story.