Tom Barnett and I have had many discussions on a singular point, how the rise of China is all too similar to the theories of A.T. Mahan. Few people may be aware that Alfred Thayer Mahan might be the most influential American historian in China today. In those discussions Tom and I have had, neither of us ever articulated our points as well as James R. Holmes and Toshi Yoshihara did in this new December Proceedings article Mahan's Lingering Ghost.
What an outstanding article! Big time kudos to the US Naval Institute for publishing that article on the web for all to read, and what a fantastic job by both authors for shifting the modern Mahan narrative study away from the focus of topics like battleships when discussing Mahan and directly towards commerce - and the link between the sea and today's rising great economic powers.
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