Beginning of Essay
, born on September 27, 1840 in West Point, New York was son of dean of the faculty at the United States Military Academy and one of the most important naval historians and strategists of his time. Although both Philip A. Crowl and Paul M. Kennedy have their own ....

Middle of Essay
.... compliment. Crowl believed "Mahan's failure as a logican (and therefore as a historian) was the direct result of his methodology: he began his labors with an insight, a light dawning on his ‘inner consciousness'; the insight hardened into a predetermined conclusion; facts were then mustered as illustration and proof." Crowl goes on to argue that "There was no pretense on the historian's part to scientific objectivity, nor any claim to having reached his conclusions on the basis of exhaustive research." Crowl seems to think that much of Mahan's theory was based on whim stemming from his "inner conscious" which turned quickly turned int ....