The Blue Age: How the US Navy Created Global Prosperity--And Why We're in Danger of Losing It

by Gregg Easterbrook

The US Navy brought half a century of peace and free trade to the world’s waterways. But climate change and rising nationalism threaten to end this blue age.
 
For decades, the Navy has stood sentinel over crucial waterways, ensuring safe passage of goods from nearly all nations. The result is the longest phase of peace on the waters since the Phoenicians, with rising living standards, more (total) jobs, and the dramatic decline of poverty in Asia.
 
But these prosperous times could be at an end. Today China is building warships at an extraordinary pace. India, Japan, Vietnam, and Europe are responding with more fighting ships. What will result from China’s rising naval might, particularly in the South China Sea? As ocean resources are shaped by climate change and new discoveries, will the world share them or fight over them? What will happen if America turns against free trade? Without American investment, the world could see a rise of supply shortages and seagoing conflict that would dwarf the impact of the container ship stuck in the Suez Canal.
 
Surveying naval history, economics, environmental threats, and great-power politics, The Blue Age makes an urgent argument about our oceans’ vital importance to the peace and prosperity of our global community.

Genres: History, Politics, Military Fiction, Nonfiction, Naval History

304 pages, Hardcover

Published September 7, 2021

About the author

I was born in Buffalo, New York and have lived there plus Boston, Brussels, Chicago, Colorado, Pakistan and Washington, D.C. My wife is a State Department official, which accounts for the globe-trotting. We have three children, boys born in 1989 and 1995 and a girl born in 1990.

I’ve published three literary novels, nine nonfiction books, with a tenth nonfiction book coming September 2021. The nonfiction is all over the map – economics, theology, psychological, environmental policy. If I had my writing career to do over again, I suppose I would have focused on a single genre, which makes commercial success more likely. Then again, I’ve always written about whatever was on my mind, and feel fortunate to have had that opportunity.

I am proud of my novels, which have gotten great reviews but not otherwise been noticed by the world. I hope someday that will change. Novel #4 is completed for 2022 publication.

I have been associated with The Atlantic Monthly as a staff writer, national correspondent or contributing editor. I have also written extensively for the Washington Monthly, the New Republic, the New York Times, Reuters and the Los Angeles Times.

My quirky football-and-society column Tuesday Morning Quarterback is on hiatus after an 18-year run. I may revive TMQ in the future. Right now the Internet environment is too toxic for any form of quality writing. I have retreated to books. Which is a good place to be!

Reviews

[Peter Tillman]

WSJ review: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-blue...
(Paywalled. As always, I'm happy to email a copy to non-subscribers). Reviewer had some criticallcomments on the book. Marked 'maybe' for me.

Excerpt:
The U.S. Navy is “the police force of nearly all blue water,” the Washington-based journalist Mr. Easterbrook writes, and one result has been an explosion in global living standards. The Strait of Malacca, a narrow stretch of ocean between Malaysia and Sumatra, was for centuries among the most treacherous passages on the globe; it is now, Mr. Easterbrook says, the shipping equivalent of a Los Angeles freeway. The American Navy “has made the oceans impassable for those bent on war, while safer for commerce,” resulting in trade that benefits “almost everyone.” He is right that this arrangement is fragile and underappreciated, and that everything from undersea internet cables to power conduits depends on the free seas.

[D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fairly entertaining yet poorly researched, Easterbrook makes a number of false statements. His information on US Navy rail guns is incorrect, his submarine history is off and his political beliefs jade his every sentence. But this is an important book that needed to be written. Because sea power is relevant and important to global security, the book earns two stars but on subject only, not on content.

[Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easterbrook presents the case that the US Navy being dominant globally since the 1940's has led to unprecedented prosperity among nations conducting trade by sea. While many Americans (and British) decry globalization, in fact the world has gone from roughly 60% of people living in extreme poverty to less than 10% today. This is also largely true for the United States, though some manufacturing jobs have been irretrievably lost; most of those losses were inevitable, due to increased automation. Perhaps the most interesting section of the book deals with the revolution since the 1950's in shipping, with the almost-total adoption of containerized transport by all nations, leading to greatly increased efficiencies and making it feasible to profitably buy goods made in other nations. (For example, I bought a thousand or so pounds of black river stones from a local Home Depot: they were collected and bagged in India, shipped across the Pacific Ocean to a port on the West Coast, then transported by train to the Fort Worth area, finally placed for sale at my local store. They retailed for $8.99 per 40-pound bag; everyone involved made money.) The thesis, whether or not you agree with it, is worth reading.

[Grouchy Historian · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I wanted to like this, but between the authors snide political comments and his almost apologetic attitude toward China I just couldn’t.

Read “To Rule The Waves”. It covers a similar set of topics without all the snide commentary.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neoliberal globalism has lost an awful lot of its shine over the last decade or so, and there is something honorable about Easterbrook continuing to loudly proclaim the virtues even as the political and media tides have sunk the position. Which partially explains, one supposes, the low regard in which Mr. Easterbrook holds the media, though his constant emphasis on the tendancy of the American press to focus on the negative is well-founded.

But generally, the single easiest way to improve one's overall happiness is to focus on gratitude, and The Blue Age is admirably fixed on the idea that we need to take proper stock of how good the world has it on the variety of vectors free trade and safe ocean transit have enabled. And therefore, his entreaty that we continue policies that allow for this state should be heeded.

That said, he enlists some dubious political arguments, inflates dumb counter-positions to subject them to ridicule, and dismisses some apropos economic and psychological theories out of hand. Easterbrook has alway had a bit of a reactionary moralist strain, and while it is admirably consistent (he's anti-Trump even as he blasts "Obama entitlements"), it's still a bit tiring. He also brings some clear-eyed thinking to China, only to backtrack into recommending a more wishy-washy position regarding them.

So, as with many of these light-poli-sci tomes, while I can't recommend the book for its expertise or masterful grasp of facts, I can recommend it as a source of ideas one can use for sharpening one's thinking on these matters.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read to understand our times, trade, America, and the US Navy

I highly recommend this book to understand how we Americans are where we are in this age. We are in a Blue Age dependent on trade safeguarded by the US Navy’s dominance in guarding the sea lanes. China is a challenge but not yet a complete threat.

There are many details in here about trade on the high seas. Ditto the navies of the world. So plan to take your time with this book.

[Malin Friess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess I’m not a military hawk. I lost interest. 2 stars.

[Michael Wiggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will try to write a review later. For now I will say that some parts of this book were excellent, well researched and written. Other parts were filled with unnecessary flogging of a former president and no small amount of virtue signaling.

[Jorge M Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not into the Trump bashing, even if I'm not the biggest fan of him. Didn't think this was going to be as politically charged as it was, but it was still bearable. The description of the US Navy in the first couple chapters were the most interesting since it introduces the makeup of the navy and makes it easy for civilians to understand. I get the author's argument that this blue age, where war isn't taking place to disrupt sea communication lines and trading routes, is in peril with adversaries such as China and Russia joining a naval arms race. The reason we even have a blue age is because the US Navy acts as a bodyguard for nations trading and fishing without a means to defend itself. The US Navy is like the guardian of the sea over the last century. However, the sea covers 75% of the globe and it is difficult to safeguard it all. It wouldn't be feasible for the US to continue to be said guardian with rising economic power China becoming a force to be dealt with.

One of my favorite sentences: "Yet in the main, American public opinion seems to hold a distorted view of trade - supersensitive to the negatives and oblivious to the positives." People can't help but be fascinated with doom scrolling and negative news.

[David Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps more like 3.5 stars than 3.

This book covers a lot of ground: history, international relations, the environment, and so on. It's also a rather short book (253 pp of text), so it necessarily just skims the surface.

The author does make some compelling points. My personal belief is that the US could do with fewer Carrier Strike Groups. I won't necessarily change my mind after reading this, but I will ponder the question further.

The tone is often on the snarky side. This is not a criticism - the snark is often deserved. Sometimes, he makes some obvious errors (e.g. "natural gas is low-carbon". It's not. It's cleaner than coal, but it's pretty much all carbon.)

I would characterize the author as more journalist than historian, and that's reflected in the paucity of notes. He excuses his minimal use of notes because "this is a general-interest work, not a PhD dissertation." I'm sure some of the history I've read began as PhD dissertations, but good history includes references. There's no bibliography, but he does provide a list of 30 books of "recommended reading". Fair enough.

[Matthew Stienberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wide ranging and level headed examination of the importance of the freedom of the seas. Told with a dry wit, insightful looks at the age of prosperity since the end of 1945 when the last major naval battles were fought. For the most part it is free of the jarring American nationalism that permeates most such works, and it tells an open and honest history of global trade and interaction on the seas with only a slight skewing of the historical record. However, it highlights just how important global ocean trade is, and the calamity that could follow were it to be interrupted. A must read for anyone interested in how our global prosperity can only be enhanced by peace on the waves, and the calamity that could ensue if it ever ends.

[Pete Castleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This should be a must read for all college students. Although published just before Russia invaded Ukraine and thereby has instigated a global polarization unknown for previous decades, Easterbrook's thesis that US Naval hegemony has led to the growing prosperity throughout the globe is undeniable. Packed with a litany of interesting facts about how the seas have changed over the years is an impressive accomplishment. The only reason it isn't five stars is the narrative sequence at times seems to be lost. Regardless, a great book on geopolitics at the end of the first two decades on the 21st century.

[S Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a world that you have glimpsed but never focused on: the huge containers that come on ships but, once on land, travel on trucks or rail cars. The system that controls them is a lot more important -- and more complicated -- than you imagine, because you never gave it a thought. This book illuminates the system - and the role of the US Navy - in lifting billions of people out of poverty. The implication for global trade, for world peace and for your personal standard of living is enormous. Look behind the curtain. It is a fascinating scene.

[Matias Andrade · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book, read it after listening to the hidden forces podcast. both are highly recommended, I think that this book is a good introduction to a very nuanced perspective of the naval theories of geopolitics, otherwise largely advertised by STRATFOR and the likes of Peter Zeihan and what I recall are called "Atlanticists". Worth checking out, I rate it highly as introductory work, but its not much more than a book written for popular interest.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

A sincere North Korean gulag fan boy is going to explain how men with guns are bringing prosperity. And how any restriction to the continuous growth in power of the said murderers is going to take away some of the fine pleasures one can find in an nicely ordered concentration camp.

[Ljkreger · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I understand that a study of sea power and global trade may not be to everyone's taste, it is nevertheless stunning that there are only 11 ratings of this excellent study on Goodreads. For over a generation Gregg Easterbrook has been writing fascinating, often counterintuitive articles and books on a number of diverse subjects. The Blue Age may represent his best work, which is saying something. It brings clarity to the essential but often overlooked, because unseen, worlds of global commerce and naval affairs. Perceptive, written with Easterbrook's characteristic wit and style, The Blue Age will be among the most satisfying 250 pages you'll read this year.

[Walksaber · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting topic and material, but written in a scatter-brained style, with too many irrelevant political asides (mostly focused on Trump but hitting Democrats as well - for example, while I agree that Modern Monetary Theory is hocum, the page-long digression really wasn't germaine), and too many facts wrong.

I expect the author of a book touching on naval affairs to know that:

* the Battle of Trafalgar was fought in 1805, not 1803

* e=mc^2 was spelled out by sailors for a photo rather than painted on the deck of USS Enterprise

* the USN does not refer to the LCSs as corvettes (Easterbrook does know that but buries it in a footnote after at least two glib references to the Navy's recently commissioned corvettes)