From Ironclads to Dreadnoughts: The Development of the German Battleship, 1864-1918 (From Musket to Maxim 1815-1914)

I was really excited for this book because the Kaiserlich Marine( Imperial German Navy) does not have as much print behind it compared to other navies, I.E U.S. Navy, Royal Navy, Keigsmarine(German navy under N*zi rule) or the Imperial Japanese Navy. This book seemed fantastic to me because it is long and covers a subject that is not readily available in print. I can use Wiki, but I am not a fan because the sources can be unreliable at best. This book has issues in the aspect of information on the warships it informs the reader of. In the preface of the book the authors do inform the reader that only "general" background and service information will be mentioned. That would be okay if all of the information was given in this book, but its not. An example of this is the serve history of SMS Konig Albert. This book does not even mention Operation Albion (1917) which Albert took part in. This is one of the highlights of this ship's career and it baffles me that this information is not given. The book only states that nothing significant happened in Albert's career after 1916. Even a generalized service history would've included this and its a shame that errors like this are present. I do admit that I have not read the book cover-to-cover so there could be other errors present, but I cannot give a clear answer at this time. The one major highlight of this book are the photos and line drawings. Many of these photographs are unique and I have never seen them before, so the addition of them is spectacular. The line drawings are a treat as well because they provide clear profiles of the ships and the detail is great for their smaller scale. Each page has two photos or line drawings which are formatted well and look proper. The only gripe here is the dead space on some of the pages. Many of the margins do not go into depth on the photos so under the pictures there might be a 3-5 inch blank space that looks out of place. Another quality of this book that is out of place is the price. Wow, 90 dollars for soft cover? This is not the faults of the author but it baffles me that a soft cover book can be this expensive. Right now the book is on sale and the sale price is what the retail price should be. The book is quite thick, but the soft cover makes the book fragile and I always am worried to put the book into my backpack because of the fear that the covers will bend or tear. I would recommend this book if it was between 40-60 dollars, but DO NOT buy this book for full retail price! I am torn about my conclusion. On one hand this book fills a gap in naval history that does not get a lot of airtime, but on the other I feel this book could be way better than it is, especially at the price point. I expected an in-depth history of these warships, not a generalized history that you can find online... which includes more! The visual aids are the highlight but I bet you could find them online. My verdict is that this could be a good addition to your collection if you are just in it for the photos, but it is not a valuable source of information if you want an in-depth work on the subject matter. -Josh C. (One side note- My book stinks like fish, I have no clue why. I could be the warehouse it was stored in but it is this chemical smell that makes me feel nauseas. This has no affect of the review, just a note to air out your book before reading!)