Gerald S. Snyder

Moored at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands north of Scotland, the Royal Navy's main fleet anchorage, the battleship Royal Oak was torpedoed by the German submarine U-47, which slipped into the anchorage unnoticed and escaped into the North Sea before destroyers could be ordered into action. More than 800 sailors, roughly 2/3 of Royal Oak's crew were trapped in the capsized ship or died of wounds or exposure in the icy waters surrounding her.

Gerald Snyder's history traces the story from both show more sides, following the planning and execution of the U-47's mission and the chaos and confusion aboard the stricken battleship. Working from interviews with both British and German survivors of the Scapa Flow action, contemporary published accounts (including the log of the U-47), and the proceedings of the Board of Enquiry convened in 1939, Snyder sticks close to the facts. He resists the temptation to speculate about events that went unreported, or invent conversations to which there were no living witnesses. The book, as his measured-but-acerbic introduction makes clear, was intended as a corrective to earlier accounts by authors with less comprehensive sources, or fewer reservations about embellishment.

Snyder is far from the first historian to use this approach—Cornelius Ryan and Walter Lord did so masterfully—but his gifts as a writer are several notches below theirs, and, in his hands, the "just the facts" inevitably gives the book a distinct dryness. The events he describes, however, are more than exciting enough in their own right to carry the story and hold a naval-history enthusiast's interest. A more serious flaw is the lack of a crisp, detailed, modern map (or series of maps) showing the layout of Scapa Flow. The sketch map drawn for Snyder by U-47 navigator Wilhelm Spahr, reproduced on pp. 80-81, is a fascinating historical artifact, but far from sufficient as an aid to the reader.

Snyder's history is, and is likely to remain, the definitive treatment of the story. This is the book on the sinking of the Royal Oak to start with and—for all but the most dedicated naval history enthusiasts—end with. show less

A 20-year look forward from 1976 to 1994 - many of the technologies mentioned do not achieve mass popularity..
Since it was the 1970s, they cite the [Limits to growth] in a few places.
The 'future of education' section correctly suggests a future of individualized learning, but then cites a Carnegie commission report recommending shortening the time to get a bachelor's degree from 4 years to 3. (It now averages 4.25 years in the US)