Customer Reviews

Monitor: The Story of the Revolutionary Ship and the Man Whose Invention Changed the Course of History

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....Like the Monitor itself, this book is short and concise and yet it packs quite a wallop. In a little more than two hundred well-written pages, Mr. DeKay manages to cram a lot. The book is all about the first ironclad warship of the U.S. Navy and its duel in Chesapeake Bay with the Confederate vessel Merrimac. The book starts with a biography of the ship's cantankerous Swedish inventor John Ericsson and his efforts to get the government bureaucracies of two continents to show interest in his his prophetic ideas for naval warfare (propeller engines, armor plating, torpedoes, revolving gun turrets). The book then talks about the labyrinthine maneuvers of Ericsson and his financial backers through the government contract process to get the ship built. Finally, the author describes in blow-by-blow detail the epic battle between the "cheesebox on a raft" Monitor and the vastly larger and better-armed Merrimac. Every page crackles with factual gems (e.g. The Civil War really was "brother against brother". The Merrimac's commander rammed and sank a Union ship while his brother was on board). Landlubbers and civilians need not be discouraged from reading this book. Engineering and naval concepts are presented in jargon-free language. The book can be finished in two or three days of casual reading. Great for the bathroom-er, uh, excuse me, head.

This slim volume recounts the history of USS Monitor which, in its famous engagement with the CSS Virginia (Merrimac) on March 9, 1862, rendered all wooden warships obsolete and initiated a naval arms race among world's navies that climaxed 80 years later in the Pacific battles of World War II.

Monitor's creator was a Swedish engineering prodigy named John Ericsson who had supervised 400 men as a canal engineer by age 16. For an 1829 railroad design competition built a steam locomotive that established a land speed record by covering a measured mile in 57 seconds (63 mph). But the contest sponsors changed the rules to defeat foreigner Ericsson and his attempts to provide innovate designs to the Royal Navy were also rejected. In frustration Ericsson emigrated to the United States and in 1837 invented the first practical screw propeller to drive steamships through the water.

In 1861 Union intelligence indicated the Confederates were rebuilding the scuttled former Union warship USS Merrimac as a heavily armed ironclad. If that ship (rechristened CSS Virginia but generally called simply "Merrimac"), broke the blockade of Hampton Roads then US coastal cities, including Washington, DC, would be vulnerable to attack. The Union needed an ironclad quickly, and Ericsson already had a plan!

Monitor's keel was laid in Brooklyn, NY on October 25, 1861, and Ericsson and his numerous subcontractors worked 108 days and nights until on February 9, 1862 USS Monitor was turned over to the Navy. Exactly one month later Monitor faced Merrimac at Hampton Roads. Objectively the battle was a tactical draw, but strategic victory went to the Union. The Union blockade was preserved, the Confederates remained bottled up and Britain and France, who were leaning toward supporting the South, decided to remain officially neutral.

This book tells the story of the design, construction, combat history, demise and legacy of USS Monitor in a well-written narrative format. It provides enough details for general readers interested in naval, engineering and civil war history. It may be too general for the serious buff, but I recommend it as an amazing tale to everyone else who wants to know more about this important historical event.

There are some small reproductions of period etchings and photos and a good map of the Hampton Roads battle area. The only thing missing are good schematics of Monitor's interior design.

Monitor skillfully holds the reader spellbound about the ship, and her irrascible genius inventor. I also came to realize just how technically advanced this ship was compared to her contemporaries. This book is a quick and powerful read that you don't want to put down, and it conveys the depth and level of accomplishment achieved by John Erriccson in getting her built in the short time he did. An outstanding history replete with circumstances and entertaining anecdotes as well. A highly recommended book.

If Tom Clancey wrote Civil War history, "Monitor" would be the result. Although non-fiction, this is as exciting a read as "The Hunt for Red October" would be if it were set during the Civil War. Military techno fans unfamiliar with the subject will be fascinated by how advanced and visionary the "cheesebox on a raft" was, and they won't ever look at mid-19th century technology as being quite so archaic again. For those familiar with the subject, you might find a more detailed and scholarly book about the Monitor elsewhere, but it certainly won't be as enjoyable to read. This is the kind of book that got you hooked on Civil War history in the first place, and deKay is to be applauded for reviving the clear prose-poetry style of the late, great Bruce Catton.

The best aspect of this small volume may be that the story of the first North American ironclads is told well enough that the reader is left wanting to learn more. The author does a particularly good job of placing the Monitor in a historical context, rather than focus solely on the machine and its epic battle with the Confederates' Virginia (better known to both sides of the conflict by its original name, the Merrimac). But the one map in the edition I have, published by Walker, is nearly illegible, and the account of the men and the battle are spare compared with an earlier treatment, Duel Between the First Ironclads, by naval historian William C. Davis-- a highly readable book that does a remarkable job of bringing the participants to life.

The author shows the creation of the Civil War Monitor, the first iron battleship on the world, right next to the Virginia. The Monitor ably dueled the Virginia and fought her to a standstill. This book also tells the story of the inventor of the Monitor John Ericsson, a person many considered eccentric until his invention dueled the Virginia. Creative minds always come to the forefront in times of national stress, and Ericsson's invention certainly helped the Union cause.

This is a short read about the inventor and the Civil War ship Monitor. This is an interesting and easy to understand short read about this famous ship.

Civil War enthusiasts have an almost inexhaustible bibliography list of books to choose from. I would rate this slim and spare volume highly. The author has mastered the primary and secondary sources and compiled a concise account that is filled with a wealth of interesting details despite the brevity of the text (approximately 228 pages, including notes).

According to the author, the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac (officially renamed "The Virginia" after its being salvaged and refitted by the South) was every bit as important as the subsequent Battle at Gettysburg in determining the outcome of the conflict. After finishing this account of the historic clash between the two ironclads, I am inclined to agree with that assessment.

Although naval history is not my particular strong suit, the author made this book understandable and thoroughly engaging. I learned a great deal about the competition between the Union and Confederate navies to equip an ironclad ship quickly to assert their national perogatives and to obtain European recognition of their military goals. The North wanted to blockade the Confederacy while the South wanted to demonstrate its naval power in a desperate bid to gain diplomatic recognition from Great Britain and France.

I am a seven and a half year old who is crazy about history and naval ships. I read this book and feel that it is absolutely the best book for naval history buffs like me. I can't wait to read it again and again.

This book reads almost like a novel. It charts the difficult birth of the Monitor as her designer fights politics and the opposition of lesser minds who oppose his radical new ideas for a warship. The author balances perfectly the story of the human struggle and the technical details of the Monitor--and why she was so different from other warships of that era--to create a compelling story. I highly recommend this book.

This popular history of the iron clad warship that changed the history of naval warfare is a must read. MONITOR retells the story of what may have been the shortest but ultimately most decisive action of the Civil War. James de Kay delivers the story and details in a straight forward but most entertaining way. Like a good novel, an excellent plot is complemented by colorful and dynamic characters. The basics of the event are widely known but often thought of as a sideshow to the to the dramtic events of the land war that has captured the interest of historians for over a century. The author, de Kay, while not trying to preempt the actions and conseqences of other crucial events of the day, leaves little doubt with the reader of MONITOR that the world as we know it today could be vastly different had the "raft with a cheesebox on top" not arrived in Hampton Roads on a fateful day in 1862. I only wish that readers solely devoted to mysteries and thrillers would discover this gem of book. Lucky are those that do.