| ID | Description | Categories | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | SPIER, Henry O. World War 2 in Our Magazines and Books, September 1939 to September 1945: A Bibliography. 96p. New York: Stuyvesant, 1945. A list arranged by country or by general topic of 1,500 books and the relevant articles from 35 journals. Useful if limited. A smaller edition was published in 1941. A facsimile reprint was published by Reink Books in 2017. |
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| 22 | ZIEGLER, Janet. World War II: Books in English, 1945-65 (Hoover Bibliographical Series: XLV). xvii, 223p., index. Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1971. ISBN: 0817924515.
Some 4,500 books are divided into fairly general subject groupings. Although it has its inevitable crop of errors and an enormous number of omissions, this early attempt is still rewarding. |
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| 23 | ARTHUR, Max. The True Glory. The Royal Navy: 1914-1939. xii, 292p., illus., index. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1996. ISBN: 0340623012.
Edited interviews with 30 sailors of the period. Particularly strong on the inter-war years. |
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| 24 | BELL, Christopher M. The Royal Navy, Seapower and Strategy Between the Wars. xx, 232p., bibliog., index. Stanford, Ca:, Stanford U.P., 2000. ISBN: 0804739781.
A revisionist view from the first real study of the RN's war plans and in particular its strategy against Japan. Argues that the RN's approach was both sophisticated and flexible. |
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| 25 | BRICE, Martin H. The Royal Navy and the Sino-Japanese Incident, 1937-41. 167p., illus., index. London: Ian Allan, 1973. ISBN: 0711004021
Although the period from 1939 is covered in only 20 pages, this is a full and interesting account of the quasi-war on the China Station, an often forgotten area of involvement for the Royal Navy. |
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| 26 | COWMAN, Ian. Dominion or Decline: Anglo-American Naval Relations in the Pacific 1937-1941. x, 327p., bibliog., illus. Oxford: Berg, 1996. ISBN: 1859731112.
A damning account of folly, ineptitude, and wishful thinking by all parties. |
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| 27 | FIELD, Andrew. Royal Navy Strategy in the Far East, 1919-1939: Preparing for War against Japan (Cass Series on Naval Policy and History, 22). xiv, 273p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Cass, 2004.ISBN: 0714653217
From 1924 on, a strategic plan, War Memorandum (Eastern), was refined. This called for the Royal Navy, still the largest in the world even after the 1922 Washington Naval Treaties, to move eastwards to a defended base in Singapore and cut off Japan and force its battlefleet into a decisive battle. |
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| 28 | GORDON, G. A. H. British Seapower and Procurement between the Wars: A Reappraisal of Rearmament. ix, 321p., bibliog., index. London: Macmillan, 1988. ISBN: 0870218948.
Considers the links between the Navy and the heavy armaments firms. Useful background. |
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| 29 | HAGGIE, Paul. Britannia at Bay: The Defence of the British Empire against Japan 1931-1941. xvi, 264p., bibliog., index. Oxford: Clarendon, 1981. ISBN: 0198226411.
A study of the role of Japan in British foreign and defence policy thinking in the thirties, leading to the disastrous denouement at Singapore in 1942. Good background material. |
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| 30 | LEUTZE, James R. Bargaining for Supremacy: Anglo-American Naval Collaboration 1937-1941. [vii], 328p., bibliog., index. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977. ISBN: 0807813052.
The development of Anglo-American naval strategy. |
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| 31 | McCARTHY, John. Australia and Imperial Defence 1918-39: A Study in Air and Sea Power. vii, 227p., bibliog., illus., index. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1976. ISBN: 0702210617.
A review of defense policy in the inter-war period. |
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| 32 | MACGIBBON, I. C. Blue Water Rationale: The Naval Defence of New Zealand 1914-1942. xxi, 446p., bibliog., illus., index. Wellington: Government Printer, 1981. ISBN: 0477010725.
A fascinating study showing the constancy of New Zealand policy over 30 years. The last quarter covers the European war years until the end of 1941 when Japan unceremoniously destroyed all the plans of the empire, which were based on holding Singapore. |
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| 33 | McINTYRE, W. David. The Rise and Fall of the Singapore Naval Base, 1919-1942. xiii, 289p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Macmillan; Hamden, Conn.: Archon, 1979. ISBN: 0333248678.
A study of British Imperial naval strategy east of Suez from the end of WWI to the opening of the Pacific War. Good background. |
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| 34 | MARDER, Arthur J. Old Friends, New Enemies: The Royal Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy 1936-1941. Strategic Illusions. xxxii, 533p., illus., index. Oxford: Clarendon, 1981. ISBN: 0198226047.
Intended as the first of two volumes on relations between the two navies, the author died just as the first volume went to press. It is a full, scholarly account of the period to the sinking of Force Z. |
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| 35 | MURFETT, Malcolm. Fool-Proof Relations: The Search for Anglo-American Naval Co-operation during the Chamberlain Years 1937-1940. xx, 324p., bibliog., illus., index. Singapore: Singapore UP, 1984. ISBN: 9971690845.
Considers the interaction between naval policy and foreign policy in the Pacific. Eden is cast as an enthusiast for co-operation, with Chamberlain at best ambivalent. |
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| 36 | NEIDPATH, James. The Singapore Naval Base and the Defence of Britain’s Eastern Empire 1919-1941. xvii, 296p., bibliog., illus., index. Oxford: Clarendon; New York: OUP, 1981. ISBN: 0198224745.
A strategic overview of the background to the Empire's worst defeat. |
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| 37 | ROSKILL, S. W. Naval Policy between the Wars. 2 vols., bibliog., illus., index. London: Collins; New York: Walker, 1968-76.
Although not strictly within the period of this bibliography, these two volumes are essential background reading. |
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| 38 | ROSKILL, S. W. Naval Policy Between the Wars (Maritime Monographs and Reports, no. 29). iv, 16p., illus. Greenwich: National Maritime Museum, 1978. ISBN: 0905555074.
The text of a lecture given in 1977 outlining Roskill's views, which are more fully expressed in the monograph of the same title. |
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| 39 | SIMPSON, Michael. Anglo-American Naval Relations 1919-1939 (Publications of the Navy Records Society, Volume 155). xxiii, 320p., bibliog., index. Farnham: Ashgate for the Navy Records Society, 2010. ISBN: 140940093X. A set of documents showing how relations evolved, with a useful introductory commentary. |
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| 40 | TRACY, Nicholas. The Collective Naval Defence of the Empire, 1900-1940 (Publications of the Navy Records Society, vol. 136). liv, 706p., index. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1997. ISBN: 1859284027.
A major essay links a large collection of official documents. Another excellent publication from the NRS. |
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