“An excellent history of the politics and personalities animating the long debate over whether to establish a naval academy, with many interesting anecdotes along the way. . . . A fine tale of how the Naval Academy came to be.” — John Lehman, The Washington Post
“Anyone interested in the struggle for a naval academy or the history of the early republic will find The Long Road to Annapolis an absorbing study.” — Naval Institute Proceedings
“Well-written, crisp and effectively organized. . . . Leeman has painted a picture of the maturing nation’s divide between those who were satisfied with time-honored methods of military training and those who embraced new concepts of broader education for the nation’s military leaders. . . . Fills a significant gap in an important chapter of the evolution of not only the U.S. Navy, but also the nation as a whole.” — Charleston Post and Courier
“In his superbly researched book, Leeman does an outstanding job of placing the arguments for and against a naval academy into the context of the evolving US social and political landscape of the early national and antebellum eras. Highly recommended.” — CHOICE
“Leeman does a superior job of contextualization. . . . The Long Road to Annapolis will engage students and general audiences with interesting prose and chapter summaries.” — American Historical Review
“The Long Road to Annapolis is an excellent addition to the growing scholarly attention being paid to Annapolis. It is an accessible, well-researched book that demonstrates Leeman’s keen capacity for compelling narration.” — The Journal of American History
“Succinct, pertinent biographical sketches. . .as well as overarching themes of nationalism, progress, and social reform provide historical context to the discourse and give both the general reader and specialist a multifaceted lens on early nineteenth century America.” — International Journal of Maritime History
“Leeman has made an able contribution to scholarship on the United States Navy in the context of the history of the early republic.” — Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
“The first major study to place the history of the United States Naval Academy within a broad national and intellectual context . . . an important contribution to the historiography on education in the early American republic.” — History of Education Quarterly
“This is an excellent and sophisticated history of the half-century of (ultimately successful) attempts to establish a full-fledged institution of higher education for the development of professional naval officers in the United States. The continuing juxtaposition of West Point and the proposed naval academy throughout the book offers an essential comparative perspective. #The Long Road to Annapolis### fills an important gap in the history of higher education and military education in the United States.” — Christopher McKee, Samuel R. and Marie-Louise Rosenthal Professor, Grinnell College
