How naval theorists sell sea power

A historian generally builds toward a conclusion, while a theorist states a conclusion early and reinforces it at the end. The strongest arguments come first because many readers will never reach the final page. That persuasive structure frames four efforts to convince an American audience that naval power matters: Roosevelt through the War of 1812, Mahan through widely read articles, Sims through World War I, and Armstrong through a modern selection of Mahan's writing. Reading these works as advocacy helps explain their choice of examples and the public each writer addresses.