I'm almost done with Norman Friedman's British Cruisers of the Victorian Era, and I have to say, I'm kind of disappointed. Substantial, fascinating text, beautiful line drawings, and nice photos, but the layout and arrangement is an absolute mess. Photos spread across two pages, with details falling into the binding, paragraphs-long captions in 4-point text, ship specifications and class breakdowns segregated to the appendix, typos on every page... I've read five of Friedman's "Illustrated Design Histories" on American warships, and while they all suffered from the same problems to a minor extent, this is easily the sloppiest-edited book I've read of his. I was kind of looking forward to his upcoming book on anti-aircraft guns and gunnery, but I'm kind of undecided right now.
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