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9781421405209 Add to Cart Academic Inspection Copy

Iron Coffin:

War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor (Updated edn)
  • ISBN-13: 9781421405209
  • Publisher: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
    Imprint: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
  • By David A. Mindell
  • Price: AUD $60.99
  • Stock: 0 in stock
  • Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
  • Local release date: 14/05/2012
  • Format: Paperback 208 pages Weight: 0g
  • Categories: History of science [PDX]
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The USS Monitor famously battled the CSS Virginia (the armored and refitted USS Merrimack) at Hampton Roads in March 1862. This updated edition of David A. Mindell's classic account of the ironclad warships and the human dimension of modern warfare commemorates the 150th anniversary of this historic encounter.Mindell's fresh perspective explores how mariners-fighting 'blindly' below the waterline-lived and coped with the metal monster they called the 'iron coffin.' He investigates how the ironclad technology, new to war in the nineteenth century, changed not only the tools but also the experience of combat and anticipated today's world of mechanized, pushbutton warfare. The writings of William Frederick Keeler, the ship's paymaster, inform much of this book, as do the experiences of everyman sailor George Geer, who held Keeler in some contempt. Mindell uses their compelling stories, and those of other shipmates, to recreate the thrills and dangers of living and fighting aboard this superweapon. Recently, pieces of the Monitor wreck have been raised from their watery grave, and with them, information about the ship continues to be discovered. A new epilogue describes the recovery of the Monitor turret and its subsequent display at the USS Monitor Museum in Newport News, Virginia.This sensitive and entertaining history of the USS Monitor ensures that the story of this fateful ship, and the men who served on it, will be remembered for generations to come.

List of Illustrations
Preface 2012
Preface to the First Edition
Introduction: A Strange Sort of Warfare
1. Revising the Revolution, 1815–1861
2. Building a Ship, Speaking Success
3. William Keeler's Epistolary Monitor
4. Life in the Artificial World
5. The Battle of Hampton Roads
6. Iron Ship in a Glass Case, April–September 1862
7. Utilitarians View the Monitor's Fight, 1862–1865
8. Melville and the Mechanic's War
Conclusion: Mechanical Faces of Battle
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography Essay
Index

""Midell conveys life aboard the Monitor with realism and honesty.""

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