Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941 by DavidC. Evans; Mark R. PeattieReview by: Eliot A. CohenForeign Affairs, Vol. 77, No. 3 (May - Jun., 1998), p. 136Published by: Council on Foreign RelationsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20048905 .

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Recent Books

multinational organization. There is also

little evaluation of the banks impact on the

world economy or even on loan recipients.

Military, Scientific, and Technological

ELIOT A. COHEN

Made to Measure: New Materials for the

21st Century,

by philip ball.

Princeton: Princeton University Press,

1997, 458 pp. $29.95. Our preoccupation with information tech

nology's forward bounds has obscured no

less radical changes in other branches of

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nically faint of heart, this book by an asso

ciate editor at Nature is a dense but accessi

ble introduction to such subjects as

photonics, "smart" materials, and nan

otechnology. The author does not spell out

the consequences for international politics, but with some effort they may be imagined. The replacement of many of the functions

of oil as a lubricant and fuel, for example, is

far from inconceivable, with consequences for Middle Eastern economics and politics that bear reflection.

Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887

1941. BY DAVID C. EVANS AND MARK

R. PEATTiE. Annapolis: Naval

Institute Press, 1997, 661 pp. $49.95. In the space of one generation Japan

created, ex nihilo as it were, a fleet capable of defeating those of two second-rank

powers?China and then Russia. Within

the space of a second generation it had a

fleet that in terms of quality and, in

some respects, quantity matched that of

the United States or Great Britain. As

indicated by the title, this scholarly work

deals with the interrelationships of strategy,

tactics, and technology. It is not merely a

fine historical account but one of more

general importance, discussing how

choices about weapons reflect martial

culture and operational styles. The

Japanese bid for qualitative superiority and decisive victory at the first stroke,

coupled with ill-understood weaknesses

in systems engineering and mass pro

duction, created a navy that could inflict

severe setbacks upon its American

counterpart, but not, ultimately, defeat

it. It is rare to find an important work so

well illustrated: sketches, tables, charts,

diagrams, and pictures serve the authors'

purposes brilliantly. Subtle, illuminating, and profound, it is difficult to do justice to a book that will almost certainly hold

the field for some decades to come.

Inventing Grand Strategy and Teaching Command: The Classic Works of Alfred ThayerMahan Reconsidered, by jon

tetsuro sumida. Washington: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1997,

164 pp. $24.95. The connections between the riddles of

the Zen masters, the art of concert pianists, and the ruminations of a nineteenth

century American naval captain are not

immediately obvious. In this slender, well

wrought volume, however, a prominent

student of naval affairs makes them clear.

The author has produced a close but

[136] FOREIGN AFFAIRS- Volume77No.3

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