Ivan Musicant

December 18, 1943 (age 55)

The Bronx, New York, United States

Ivan Musicant's Battleship at War: The Epic Story of the U.S.S. "Washington" chronicles life aboard the American battleship the U.S.S. Washington from 1941 through 1946. At the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Pacific Ocean during World War II, the USS Washington sank an enemy battleship by gunfire, the only United States battleship to ever do so. Focusing on events that took place on the battleship, Musicant based Battleship at War on ship's logs and interviews with scores of men who served aboard the vessel. The Banana Wars: A History of United States Military Intervention in Latin America from the Spanish-Ameri- can War to the Invasion of Panama is a general history of American military activities in the Caribbean region and in Central America dating from 1898, and focuses primarily on actions in Panama, Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Grenada. In The Banana Wars, Musicant discusses the political, economic, and strategic military aspects of the invasions. Musicant turned to the American Civil War with Divided Waters: The Naval History of the Civil War. As its subtitle suggests, this volume provides a comprehensive history of naval action by the Union and Confederate navies during that conflict. Musicant deals with all major military operations on the high seas as well as along the East coast and on the rivers. Among the discussed are operations are the blockage of Confederate ports, the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and a confrontation between the battleships Kearsarge and Alabama. In Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century, Musicant, using already published sources, details the political events that led up to the Spanish-American War of 1898. He then goes on to describe United States military activities during the war.

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Works

book

U.S. Armored Cruisers: A Design and Operational History

1985

Battleship at War: The Epic Story of the USS Washington

(This book traces the U.S.S. Washington's role in World Wa...)

1986

The Banana Wars: A History of United States Military Intervention in Latin America from the Spanish-American War to the Invasion of Panama

(This is a general history of American military activities...)

1990

Divided Waters: The Naval History of the Civil War

(A naval history of the Civil War uses the words of the me...)

1995

Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century

(The definitive version of the Spanish-American War as wel...)

1997

Ivan Musicant

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historian author

Background

Ivan Musicant was born on December 18, 1943, in the Bronx, New York, United States.

Career

Ivan Musicant's Battleship at War: The Epic Story of the U.S.S. "Washington" chronicles life aboard the American battleship the U.S.S. Washington from 1941 through 1946. At the Battle of Guadalcanal in the Pacific Ocean during World War II, the USS Washington sank an enemy battleship by gunfire, the only United States battleship to ever do so. Focusing on events that took place on the battleship, Musicant based Battleship at War on ship's logs and interviews with scores of men who served aboard the vessel.

The Banana Wars: A History of United States Military Intervention in Latin America from the Spanish-Ameri- can War to the Invasion of Panama is a general history of American military activities in the Caribbean region and in Central America dating from 1898, and focuses primarily on actions in Panama, Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Grenada. In The Banana Wars, Musicant discusses the political, economic, and strategic military aspects of the invasions.

Musicant turned to the American Civil War with Divided Waters: The Naval History of the Civil War. As its subtitle suggests, this volume provides a comprehensive history of naval action by the Union and Confederate navies during that conflict. Musicant deals with all major military operations on the high seas as well as along the East coast and on the rivers. Among the discussed are operations are the blockage of Confederate ports, the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and a confrontation between the battleships Kearsarge and Alabama.

In Empire by Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century, Musicant, using already published sources, details the political events that led up to the Spanish-American War of 1898. He then goes on to describe United States military activities during the war.

Achievements

Ivan Musicant was best known as a naval historian. In 1987 he received Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature for his book "Battleship at War: The Epic Story of the USS Washington".