An Illustrated History of the Royal Navy by John Winton, ed. Chris Howard Bailey

This is a bold attempt at an illustrated account of centuries of history. The development of the Navy is well covered in terms of logistics, tactics, technology and its role in British culture. There is a good use of statistics to form a picture and good embedding of primary sources to cement the narrative. There are also interesting insights into lesser-known aspects of history like the lunar influences on the timing of D-Day. Additionally, the accounts of battles are thorough and the artwork is amazing. However, the broader context of battles is sometimes unclear to the reader in terms of the geopolitical aims of belligerents. There are also numerous times when historical objects photographed lack context in terms of their origins and their current status, which can also be said of some of the artwork. There is also some jargon which needs explaining for lay people and one case of racial language which is outdated for a 21st Century publication. Overall, this is a bold attempt at compiling centuries of the Navy into a single illustrated history but it needs brushing up.