This book has long been needed, for it has been clear for years that the Anglo-German naval problem underlay the whole pre-war antagonism of the two countries. It is fortunate that the enormous task of studying and analyzing this difficult question was undertaken and carried through by a scholar of Mr. Woodward's ability. Making full use of the British, French and German documents, and also of some unpublished materials in the British Foreign Office, as well as of the parliamentary debates and a good deal of newspaper writing, he has traced the development of the Anglo-German rivalry from the passage of the first German naval law in 1898 to the outbreak of the World War. The volume supersedes other partial studies of the subject and ranks as one of the important books on war origins.