Naval War College Reading Room: Current List

Lecture Recommendation: April 1, 2024

Ms. Abigail G. Mullen was a guest Speaker for a Lecture of Opportunity in the HHC Book Series to discuss her new and upcoming book, to be released August 2024.

A new history of the First Barbary War, a conflict that helped plant the seeds for the United States' ascent to a global superpower. After the American Revolution, maritime traders of the United States lost the protection of Britain's navy, leading privateers from the Barbary States--Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and the Sultanate of Morocco--to prey on American shipping in the Mediterranean, kidnapping and enslaving American sailors. While most European countries made treaties to circumvent this predation, this option was fiscally untenable for the young nation, and on May 14, 1801, Tripoli declared war on the United States. In To Fix a National Character, Abigail G. Mullen argues that the First Barbary War represented much more than the military defeat of an irritating minor power. The United States sought a much more ambitious goal: entrance to the Mediterranean community, as well as respect and recognition as an equal member of the European Atlantic World. Without land bases in the region, good relations with European powers were critical to the United States' success in the war. And because the federal government was barely involved in the distant conflict, this diplomacy fell to a series of consuls and commodores whose goals, as well as diplomatic skills, varied greatly. Drawing on naval records, consular documents, and personal correspondences, Mullen focuses on the early years of the war, when Americans began to build relationships with their Mediterranean counterparts. This nuanced political and diplomatic history demonstrates that these connections represented the turning point of the war, rather than any individual battles. Though the war officially ended in 1805, whether the United States truly "won" the war is debatable: European nations continued to regard the United States as a lesser nation, and the Barbary states continued their demands for at least another decade.

Subjects: Barbary War 1800-1805, United States in Barbary War, Tripoli versus United States

Lecture Recommendation: March 25, 2024

Guest Speaker Providence Nkurunziza (Umugwaneza), gave a Lecture of Opportunity telling a little of her own story surviving the 1994 Rwanda genocide and giving voice to ongoing world issues that need attention. "Next Couple Hours" is her memoir.
"You're not a victim for sharing your story. You are a survivor setting the world on fire with your truth. And you never know who needs your light, your warmth, and raging courage." --Alex Elle Providence Umugwaneza was eleven the night Hutu radicals began massacring members of her ethnic group, the Tutsis, in Rwanda. While Provie escaped with her aunt, most of the rest of her family was slaughtered in a horrific event the world now recognizes as the 1994 genocide against Tutsis. A woman of faith and thankful to have survived, now Provie considers it both a privilege and her duty to testify--about social justice, community healing, and those mass killings still going on in the world today--until her last breath. She wants everyone to know that regardless of the hate they may have witnessed or endured, as children of God, each member of the human race is deserving of life and love.

Subjects: Personal Memoir, Rwanda Genocide, Tutsi Genocide, Rwanda Survivor

Lecture Recommendation: March 25, 2024

Guest Speaker Providence Nkurunziza (Umugwaneza), gave a Lecture of Opportunity telling a little of her own story surviving the 1994 Rwanda genocide and giving voice to ongoing world issues that need attention. She touched briefly on the Killings of Tutsi's in the Democratic Republic of Congo that is going on today and has been happening for years.

This is a country report on the Democratic Republic of Congo from GenocideWatch.com.

Subjects: Democratic Republic of Congo, Conflict in Congo, State of Conflict in Congo

Lecture Recommendation: March 18, 2024

Terence Roehrig gave a Lecture of Opportunity on the current state of North Korea and potential future.

Was there ever a window of opportunity for successful negotiations over North Korea's nuclear weapons program? Negotiation Dynamics to Denuclearize North Korea brings together country experts with negotiation specialists to apply negotiation theory to the North Korea denuclearization process. Country expert chapters provide a detailed assessment of the goals, motives, and strategies of the six parties--North Korea, South Korea, the United States, China, Japan, and Russia--along with contextual variables of each player such as political, economic, and social conditions while the negotiation scholars collate and scrutinize the results of these key variables. Based on thorough descriptive contexts provided by the country experts, the negotiation scholars identify the lack of two factors, party cohesion and ripeness, as detriments to successful North Korea nuclear negotiations.

Subjects: North Korea, U.S., Republic of South Korea, Denuclearization of North Korea

Lecture Recommendation: March 18, 2024

Terence Roehrig gave a Lecture of Opportunity on the current state of North Korea and potential future.


In contrast to previous studies of the South Korea-United States alliance, Uk Heo and Terence Roehrig analyze the bigger picture, including the history, economics, security, alliance structure, politics, and the future of the alliance. Taking alliance theory as a starting point, the authors argue that the alliance provides an ideal case study to examine how the political development and economic growth of junior partners impact an alliance. As South Korea's capabilities and ambitions have grown, the alliance has evolved from an asymmetric regional security relationship to an economic partnership with global interests, while China's rise and North Korea's nuclear development mean that South Korea remains of strategic importance for American interests in East Asia. This book will be read both as a major contribution to Korean studies and the study of alliance politics and theory.

Subjects: Republic of South Korea, Korean-U.S. Relations, North Korea, China

Lecture Recommendation: March 18, 2024

Terence Roehrig gave a Lecture of Opportunity on the current state of North Korea and potential future.


Terence Roehrig provides a detailed and comprehensive look at the nuclear umbrella in northeast Asia in the broader context of deterrence theory and U.S. strategy. Roehrig argues that the nuclear umbrella is most important as a political signal demonstrating commitment to the defense of allies and as a tool to prevent further nuclear proliferation.

Subjects: South Korea, Nuclear weapons, Japan, Deterrence, Nuclear Warfare

Military Professor Jahara Matisek wrote a book review on David B. Rowland's 2023 published book; Green Light Go!

Growing concern about the US Army’s force structure is leading to both internal and external discussions about cutting the number of Army personnel involved in the advising and training of foreign militaries.

Subjects: U.S. Army, Military Structure,

This is a review essay of Steve Coll's new book, "The Achilles Trap" written by Joseph Stieb, "The Icarus Trap: Arrogance, Misperception, and the U.S. Invastion of Iraq." The essay assesses the uses and limitations of understanding the Iraq War as a product of mutual misperceptions between Iraqi and U.S. leaders.

The Linked Book Review was published in the Naval War College Review, Volume 76, Number 3, Summer 2023. Professor Richard J Norton wrote the Review on Meir Finkel's 2021 book. You can access an electronic copy to read from the US Naval War College's Library Collection.

U.S. Naval War College Review Book Review for volume 76, Number 3, Summer 2023. This is a book review by Professor James R. Holmes of the book by Paul Stillwell published in 2021. A copy of this book can be found on the US Naval War College's Library website.

The Linked Book Review was published in the Naval War College Review Volume 76, Number 3, Summer 2023, Article 15. It is Professor Carnes Lord's review of Daniel Deudney's book that was released in 2020.

Attached is the book review for "Innovating Victory: Naval Technology in Three Wars." This book is an innovative comparison of the world’s major combatant navies through three significant major conflicts (Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II – the Russo-Japanese War has an occasional appearance) illustrating how nations incorporated – or failed to incorporate — new technologies into their ships, their practices, and their doctrines.