With Rum, Sodomy, Prayers, and the Lash, Matthew Seligmann has written an important book on Winston Churchill and social reform within the Royal Navy in the era of the First World War. The author of other noteworthy books and articles about the Royal Navy, Seligmann knows his subject and writes with authority. Indeed, Seligmann has written a wonderful essay after the book's conclusion on the primary sources he used in writing this study. This essay makes for a fascinating detective story of locating and reconstructing the sources to fill gaps in the archival record. Naval historians will find this essay of great value.

Churchill stood a leading social reformer in the Great Britain's Liberal government before the First World War. As president of the Board of Trade and as home secretary between 1908–1911, Churchill worked closely with David Lloyd George in devising and executing an ambitious reform agenda to tackle what British Liberals diagnosed as the country's pressing social and economic ills. As a son of the aristocracy, Churchill was denounced as a traitor to his class for championing radical policies in the political arena and supporting Lloyd George. Churchill rightly deserves credit for his part in bringing about the major social reforms pushed through by the Liberal government.

It is often contended that Churchill's role as champion of radical social reform ended when he moved over to the Admiralty in 1911, serving as First Lord, the civilian minister responsible for Britain's security at sea. When he arrived at the Admiralty, Britain faced a serious naval challenge from imperial Germany. In response, Churchill advocated increased British efforts to stay ahead of Germany in the naval arms race. To Churchill, this competition was one that Britain could not afford to lose.

Churchill's more strident calls for increasing British naval strength against Germany infuriated many Liberals. By highlighting the menace from Germany, he was viewed by colleagues within the government and the party's rank-and-file as an obstacle to improving Anglo-German relations. He seemed an enemy of traditional Liberal battle cries of peace, reform, and retrenchment. Within the government, Churchill would face a serious clash with Lloyd George over the navy's budget during the winter of 1913–14. Prominent Liberal leaders urged Prime Minister H. H. Asquith and Lloyd George to sack Churchill. This famous clash has contributed to the view that Churchill turned his back on radical social reform once put in charge of the navy.

Seligmann contests this view of Churchill forsaking social reform in favor of a single-minded pursuit of national security. He makes a compelling case for his point of view. While Churchill was determined to win the naval arms race with Germany, he also remained a committed social reformer. Churchill pushed to better the conditions of sailors serving in the Royal Navy. He understood that defeating the German naval challenge required more than the building of ships, stockpiling ammunition, and the acquisition of the latest technology. The fighting ability of the Royal Navy to defeat Germany at sea also critically depended on the skills and morale of its personnel.

Maintaining the qualitative edge of Britain's naval forces by bettering the conditions of service for officers and sailors helped motivate Churchill's reform efforts at the Admiralty. Improved conditions for personnel within the service went hand-in-hand with increased combat readiness to meet the German challenge, in Churchill's estimation. Seligmann rightly maintains that Churchill's reforms “played a critical role in preparing Britain for the challenges of the First World War” (9).

The title of the book—Rum, Sodomy, Prayers and the Lash Revisited—is drawn from a famous quip attributed to Churchill. Whether Churchill did actually ridicule naval tradition, invoked by senior naval officers opposed to his reforms, as consisting of rum, sodomy, prayers, and the lash, is open to doubt. Nonetheless, Seligmann sees these “traditions” as a way to examine initiatives to transform and improve service conditions. He devotes a chapter to each area of reform: increasing pay and opportunities for promotion; curtailing alcohol consumption; punishing homosexuality; promoting religious diversity; and reducing corporal punishment. Each chapter is richly documented, well written, and judicious in interpretation.

These reforms provoked opposition from within as well as outside the navy. To senior naval officers, accustomed to great deference, Churchill could come across as an obnoxious young man. He forced two first sea lords, well-respected senior officers, to resign because they could not work with him. Outside the service, increases in pay scales meant clashing with Lloyd George and the Treasury over the navy's budget. That Churchill prevailed as much as he did against the opposition is one measure of his combative leadership. Seligmann applauds Churchill's efforts to make the naval service better reflect British society as a whole. He writes that Churchill's “tenure of office left a decisive legacy” on the Royal Navy (9).

While Seligmann highlights Churchill's role as reformer, the other main character in his account is the navy itself as a large organization trying to adapt to changes in the larger surrounding social and international environment. While Churchill gave impetus to reforms, senior naval officers already saw the need to reform service conditions before the young, brash first lord arrived at the Admiralty. Seligmann details the rationale behind the navy's reform efforts, the problems encountered in trying to enact them, and what reformers actually achieved for all their labors.

Seligmann has made a valuable contribution to understanding Churchill and the Royal Navy in a troubled era, as Britain's last Liberal government enacted fiscal, political, and social reform at home, while contending with the growing international peril emanating from Germany's bid for world power. This book should appeal not only to historians, but to anyone interested in transforming large, complex organizations. Highly recommended!