Over the next three years, the Naval Institute Press will publish Samuel Eliot Morison's monumental History of United States Naval Operations in World War II in updated paperback editions with new introductions by noted military historians. Morison, an eminent Harvard professor, was appointed by his close friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, to write the history of U.S. naval operations after convincing the president that too many wartime histories were written after the fact or from a distance. Morison called his classic work a "shooting history" of World War II, because it was documented by historical observation during each specific naval operation in the Atlantic and Pacific. Critically hailed for its accuracy, narrative pace, and detail, the series presents a complete record of the U.S. Navy's war at sea.
The second volume covers the naval aspects of Operation Torch, the North African campaign that carried out the plan favored by President Roosevelt for opening a second front to relieve the Russians.
This volume has a new introduction by Vincent P. O'Hara, author of Struggle for the Middle Sea
Samuel Eliot Morison taught history at Harvard from 1915 to 1955, except for active duty service in the Navy aboard eleven different ships in all theaters of the war. In addition to this fifteen-volume series, Rear Admiral Morison wrote many other popular and award-winning books on maritime history, including Two Ocean War. He was the recipient of two Pulitzer Prizes, two Bancroft Prizes, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom He died in 1976.
[3]
