Books & Videos
One of the primary purposes of NOUS is to encourage research and writing on naval and maritime subjects. Annually, NOUS gives the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature to the author of a published book of particular merit. The 2024 winner is The Neptune Factor: Alfred Thayer Mahan and the Concept of Sea Power by Nicholas Lambert.
The 2023 winner was Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution by Eric Jay Dolin. The 2022 winner was Battleship Commander: The Life of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr. by Paul Stillwell. No award was given in 2021.
For Author, Agent and Publisher inquiries about eligibility and general information, please contact:
William H Schmidt williamhschmidt@icloud.com
Past Commander - NY Commandery, Co-Chairman, RADM Samuel Eliot Morison Award Committee
Recent Recommendations
by Richard D. Camp
Finalist for NOUS' 2024 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature
Marine historian Dick Camp knew Craig personally and has woven Craig’s own account of his service into context. Craig’s recollections are more than recitations of facts, his account of leading in World War II provides the perspective of a combat leader balancing the mission objectives with responsibility for the men he leads. His account of fighting during the Korean War section provides insight into how unprepared the United States was and how a determined, well-led Marine brigade was able to stop the North Korean advance and prevent them from overrunning South Korea.
Ordering Info: Casemate
Publisher: Casemate Publishers, 2023
by Stan Fisher
Finalist for NOUS' 2024 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature
The ability of the United States Navy to fight and win a protracted war in the Pacific was not solely the result of technology, tactics, or leadership. Naval aviation maintenance played a major role in the U.S. victory over Japan in the second World War. The naval war against Japan did not achieve sustained success until enough aircraft technicians were available to support the high tempo of aviation operations that fast carrier task force doctrine demanded.
Ordering Info: Naval Institute Press
Publisher: Naval Institute Press, 2023
by Phillip T. Parkerson
Finalist for NOUS' 2024 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature
The Brooklyn-class light cruiser USS Boise (CL-47) was one of the most famous US combat ships of World War II, already internationally renowned following her participation in the naval battles in the Solomons in 1942.
USS Boise’s war not only gives us an insight into how one ship navigated a global conflict, but also an insight into the experiences of the men who served on her, and a new perspective on the naval campaigns of the war.
Ordering Info: Casemate
Publisher: Casemate Publishers, 2023
by Mark E. Stille
Finalist for NOUS' 2024 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature
Leyte was a huge and complex action, actually consisting of four major battles, each of which are broken down in detail in this book, using original sources. The plans of both sides, and how they dictated the events that followed, are also examined critically.
Ordering Info: Osprey
Publisher: Osprey Publishing, 2023
by Eric Jay Dolin
Winner of NOUS' 2023 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature
The best-selling author of Black Flags, Blue Waters reclaims the daring freelance sailors who proved essential to the winning of the Revolutionary War. The heroic story of the founding of the U.S. Navy during the Revolution has been told before, yet missing from most maritime histories of America’s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels, from 20-foot whaleboats to 40-cannon men-of-war, that truly revealed the new nation’s character―above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos. In Rebels at Sea, Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, though often seen as profiteers at best and pirates at worst, were in fact critical to the Revolution’s outcome. Armed with cannons, swivel guns, muskets, and pikes―as well as government documents granting them the right to seize enemy ships―thousands of privateers tormented the British on the broad Atlantic and in bays and harbors on both sides of the ocean. Abounding with tales of daring maneuvers and deadly encounters, Rebels at Sea presents the American Revolution as we have rarely seen it before.
Ordering Info: Amazon
Publisher: Liveright (imprint of W. W. Norton), 2022
Books and Videos by Our Naval Order Companions
Naval Order Companions who wish to enter books that they have authored or videos that they have produced, enter your work into the form at the bottom of this page.
by Jack Cheevers
Combining the dark intrigue of a Cold War thriller and the propulsive writing of a novel, Kennedy's Coup is a landmark work that will change your understanding of America's involvement in one of the most controversial and consequential wars in our history.
Based on a decade of research and writing, enriched by eyewitness interviews and revealing documents obtained through dozens of freedom of information requests, Kennedy's Coup vividly recreates the Kennedy Administration's secret encouragement of the fatal 1963 military coup against South Vietnam's defiant president.
The brutal assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem by his own generals—which capped weeks of bitter White House infighting amid JFK's wavering—led to dreadful consequences for the United States, opening the door to nine years of costly and futile warfare in Vietnam. A meticulous researcher and fluid writer, Jack Cheevers etches unforgettable portraits of the people behind this fascinating drama: the kindly, philosophy-loving American ambassador who tried to save Diem; the powerful Pentagon and State Department figures who battled for JFK's ear; the hard-driving young American journalists in Saigon who braved police beatings and death threats to dig out the story; the adder-tongued Madame Nhu, Diem's beautiful sister-in-law, who enraged critics with outrageous insults; the scheming South Vietnamese generals who slowly tightened a noose around their commander in chief; the hard-drinking CIA agent who carried secret US messages to the generals; and Diem and his Machiavellian brother Nhu, head of the feared secret police, who tried but failed to outwit both the Americans and their traitorous generals.
While many Vietnam books mention Diem's murder in passing, this gripping account delves into the participants' personalities, motives, and actions in greater detail than ever before. The definitive history of one of the most catastrophic decisions ever made by a US president, shedding new light on events that altered the world, Kennedy's Coup will be a work of lasting importance.
Email: jscheevers@gmail.com
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 2026
Ordering Info: Barnes & Noble
by Anthony D. Atwood
Read review by NOUS companion Peter Andrus, Texas Commandery
The critically important roles of Florida in World War II which had more soldiers in Florida (2.1 million) than civilians in the entire State. Our Gulf-Sea Frontier was the scene of serious naval combat, with enemy U-boats sinking 102 ships off its shores. Spies were landed here. Florida was vital for aerial force projection to the European and Asian fronts. CBI and the Hump Flights originated from the State. Ten percent of Liberty Ships were built by Floridians, primarily women. There were 25 POW camps here. The Civil Rights movement began in the barracks here. Tibbets was a native. Florida's impact on the war was enormous.
Email: Aatwood@fiu.edu
Publisher: University Press of Florida, 2025
Ordering Info: Amazon
edited by Dwight Hughes and Chris Mackowski
A navy veteran might call this a book of sea stories, specifically Civil War sea stories. Such tales—like fish stories, campfire stories, and aging-warrior stories— traditionally have about them elements of the fantastic and the fabricated. A true sailor would begin with, "This is no s**t!" Essays within indeed take place on the oceans, also on the beaches, in the harbors, and on the rivers of the Civil War. They are, however, comprehensive narrative history fashioned by talented public historians at Emerging Civil War. They also contain features of the fantastic but with the virtue of being true. Although the chapters are roughly chronological, these essays make for good browsing in any order of interest. They touch on many topics from strategy, tactics, and technology to social and political issues as well as personalities great and lowly. Devotees of both Civil War and naval history will discover unique perspectives on familiar events as well as obscure tales filling gaps of knowledge and understanding.
Email: shipdriver@verizon.net
Publisher: Savas Beatie, 2023
Ordering Info: Savas Beatie. See other works by this NOUS companion here.
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by Nicholas A. Lambert
Winner of NOUS' 2024 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature
Capt. A.T. Mahan's central argument was that the outcome of rivalries on the seas have decisively shaped the course of modern history. Although Mahan's scholarship has long been seen as foundational to all systematic study of naval power, Neptune Factor is the first attempt to explain how Mahan's definition of sea power shifted over time.
Ordering Info: Naval Institute Press
Publisher: Naval Institute Press, 2024