Editor's Page

Time flies. It has been 20 years since the Naval Institute Press published its first novel—The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy. This book hit the Washington Post best-seller list in 1984 and stayed there for more than 40 weeks. It has remained a steady seller and once again will lead the Naval Institute Press’s list of titles in the 2004 fall catalog in two 20th anniversary editions—a special slipcased collector’s version and a standard version with a commemorative cover.

The fall catalog features many titles addressing current issues, including Finishing Business: Ten Steps to Defeat Global Terror and The Wastrels of Defense: How Congress Sabotages U.S. Security. The list also showcases new editions of The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World and The Naval Institute Guide to Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet. In addition, we are pleased to announce the launch of our Blue & Gold Professional Library Series. Clearly, professional books such as The Bluejacket’s Manual and Watch Officer’s Guide have been the Naval Institute’s stock-in-trade since it first began publishing books in 1898. But as our core of professional books is revised and new ones such as The Chief Petty Officer’s Guide come on line, they will be distinctively and handsomely bound and gold embossed.

Other new titles put a human face on the profession of arms by providing insightful examinations of Steven Decatur (first naval hero after John Paul Jones); Draper Kaufman (America’s first frogman); Grace Hopper (admiral of the cyberwar); Walter C. Short (the Army commanding general in Pearl Harbor when Japan attacked); and Howard Hughes (through the eyes and words of his test pilots). Not surprisingly, we also will introduce many new great titles addressing World War II topics: U.S. submarines operating from Australia; the U.S. air war over New Guinea; the German fleet’s operations and its admirals; OSS operations in the Far East; and a sailor’s survival story.

Two other special titles this fall are novels we are bringing back in print by the author of Run Silent, Run Deep, the late Captain Ned Beach—Dust on the Sea and Cold Is the Sea. (As many Naval Institute members know, our headquarters building is named in honor of Captain Beach and his father Captain Edward L. Beach Sr. Their combined membership in the Naval Institute spanned more than 100 years.)

The 2004 fall catalog will arrive in your mailbox this month and is posted on our <a href=">Web site. This exciting lineup reflects new energy and focus among the team of professionals editing, designing, producing, and marketing our books. Take advantage of special prepublication discounts offered to Naval Institute members to add valuable volumes to your libraries.

It is appropriate that this column begins and ends by addressing novels, because novels also are going to be a part of our future. Giles Roblyer, formerly an associate editor on Proceedings and Naval History (he edited the young people’s series, “The Log of Mathew Roving”), is now our fiction acquisition editor with the Press. We are not going to publish a lot of new fiction, but we are still in the good fiction business.